How Everyone Started Sleeping Together
by Resonance and d
Summary: Sora didn't mean for things to get so complicated so fast. Mostly, he blames Roxas. Post-KH2, ignores KH3D. SoRiKai, Sora/Riku/Roxas, Roxas/Axel, all subsets of those pairings.
1. A Start

**How Everyone Started Sleeping Together**  
**Summary**: Sora didn't mean for things to get so complicated so fast. Mostly, he blames Roxas. Post-KH2, ignores KH3D because I haven't finished 3D yet.  
**Pairings**: Sora/Riku/Kairi + Sora/Riku/Roxas + Roxas/Axel + and all subsets thereof.  
**Warnings: **Weird consent issues arising from people sharing bodies (no actual dubcon or noncon in my opinion, but read at your own risk).

**Chapter 1: A Start**

Sora had almost forgotten what it was like to be really warm. Not that he'd been cold, most of the time, on his journeys- but there was a difference between not-cold and warm. It was the difference between the sunshine on worlds like Hollow Bastion and on his own world. The sunshine was weaker in other worlds. At night, they got chilly. Even Agrabah had gotten cold at night, for all that it had been blazingly hot during the day. But Destiny Islands was soaked in sunshine, every grain of sand absolutely saturated with it, and now that he was home again, it was hard to see how darkness had ever managed to take it.

He spent the first week back on the islands- after the horrible first day when he'd had to explain to his parents where he'd been for the past two or three years- just sitting in the sunshine and napping like a cat. Sometimes he woke up in the same place, and sometimes he drifted back to consciousness to find himself sitting on the edge of the dock, staring off at the sunset, or inside the Secret Place, looking at the door to the heart of the world and leaning on the cool stone walls.

_Sorry,_ Roxas always muttered, when Sora caught him doing something- anything. And then he vanished to somewhere in Sora's mind, like a ghost or something.

"It's okay," Sora always said, "I don't mind. You don't have to go." But if Roxas could even hear him, he never responded.

It was a little weird, to realize Roxas could do things while Sora was sleeping, but not too weird. After all, Roxas was part of Sora. He deserved a share of Sora's life, didn't he? But

Roxas didn't seem to share that opinion, because he kept disappearing when Sora needed to talk to him.

After that first week of sunshine and napping, Sora got restless. He'd never been bored at home before, and he wouldn't exactly say he was bored now, either- but he couldn't quite stay still.

He was supposed to be catching up on classes, studying from Kairi's notes and books. School was going to start up again in a few weeks, and he'd missed over two years of it, fighting evil. He had to work hard if he didn't want to be left behind a year without Kairi- Riku was a year ahead of them, so there was no hope there, but Sora wasn't going to be the last one to graduate. But he'd never been very good at concentrating on books unless they were about pirates or adventures, and when he tried to read about algebra instead, he ended up tapping his foot and doodling in the margins of his book instead.

"Stop that," Roxas said, using Sora's own mouth, after Sora had been foot-tapping and margin-doodling for a good thirty minutes. "You're really irritating sometimes."

It was disconcerting to have his mouth talking without his go-ahead, especially when it was insulting him.

Sora stopped tapping his foot. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't realize it was bothering you."

Roxas sighed.

Ten minutes later, when Sora had grown bored of math yet again, his foot abruptly stopped tapping of its own accord and refused to tap any more.

"Sorry," Sora said again.

"You know," Roxas said. "You'd probably have more luck if you tried to do some practice problems. Reading math books is really dull."

"I don't know how to do them, though," Sora said. "Not until I read the book."

"I'll show you," Roxas said.

And he did, walking Sora through each problem until Sora could do them on his own. He was good at explaining things so that Sora could understand them. Which made sense,

Sora supposed, since Roxas was part of him.

"How do you know all of this?" Sora asked after they'd powered their way through three chapters in one go. "You didn't study when you were... you know. With the Organization. Did you?"

"Fake memories are good for something," Roxas said.

That was all the talking that Sora could get him to do for the rest of the day.

When Sora wasn't studying with Roxas, he went to the beach with Riku and Kairi. They shared a paopu fruit with each other, all three of them, because if their destinies were entwined, maybe they would never lose each other again. At the very least, maybe they would always find each other again.

One night, they climbed on to Riku's roof and watched the stars. There were a lot more of them now than there had been before they left. A lot of worlds had been restored.  
Now he understood what it meant, when people said that there were so many stars that they couldn't be counted.

_It's pretty, isn't it?_

_Yeah, _Roxas said._ It is._

And Sora thought that maybe one day he'd like to go see them all again. He had a lot of friends out there, after all.

He took Kairi's hand, and Riku's, and held them, and neither of them protested.

This time, they'd all go together. They'd have time to look around. The worlds were safe now. They'd have lots of time. All the time in the worlds.

* * *

About a week before school started, Sora's mom made Sora go out and buy new clothes. There were uniforms to get for school, of course, but she also made him get clothes for wearing around every day.

This, Sora supposed, was fair. He only had the one outfit, and it was getting pretty gross without Donald's magic to keep it clean, even if it had been made by magical fairies on another world.

His mom didn't seem to have grasped that he was a lot taller now than when he'd last been at home. She kept grabbing the wrong sizes for him to try. And then when he'd finally found something that fit right, and looked okay, Roxas would interrupt with a _you're going to _wear_ that?_

If Sora had known clothes shopping was the way to get Roxas to speak up more, he might have gone sooner. Of course, if he'd known Roxas was going to be this _annoying_ about it, he might have put it off even longer.

In the end, Sora ended up with a pile of clothes for him, and a pile for Roxas. The Roxas pile looked _okay, _though it tended towards monochrome 'Okay' was about as far as Sora was willing to go. But Sora still wanted to make sure Roxas had a share in his life, and it meant that Sora had enough clothes to last a while, so whatever.

* * *

The next day, Sora had to take a placement test to make sure he was actually ready for school, after missing the past few years. Sora was a little worried about it, but he figured that Roxas had helped him enough that he couldn't fail it even if he messed up a couple of questions on the math- which was definitely his weakest subject.

Sora's mom smiled when she saw Sora in his school uniform, and Sora smiled back. In that moment, he couldn't see how anything could possibly go wrong. He was home, surrounded by family and friends.

And then he went to school and sat in a stuffy un-air-conditioned room with a teacher old enough to be his grandmother, and started the test.

With all the fear he'd faced over the past few years, he would have thought he'd be used to it by now. But the second the test was put in front of him, he froze up.

How was he supposed to solve a quadratic equation? Ten minutes ago, he'd known. But now, staring at the sheet with the variables lined up in front of him, he was as clueless as he had been before he'd started studying.

_Honestly_, Roxas said, in the back of his head. He sounded irritated

His pencil started moving, and solutions bloomed across the page.

_Thank you_, Sora said, and tried not to look surprised.

He got a passing grade on the test. The teacher grading it gave him a suspicious look, but said nothing about the fact that Sora's handwriting was slightly different on the math portion than on the rest of the test. After all, she'd been sitting right there as Sora took it. It wasn't like anyone could tell that he had sort of been cheating.

_Do you want to do math class?_ Sora asked, mostly joking.

Roxas was silent. Sora took that to mean he didn't think Sora was very funny.

_Sorry_, Sora started to say, but Roxas interrupted him.

_I'd like that_, he finally said.

So Roxas was clearly insane, but since Sora was the one with another person living in his head, he felt that it was better not to point fingers. Plus, Roxas' particular brand of insanity meant that Sora didn't have to do math. Which was sort of cheating, Sora supposed, but then again, Roxas was part of him, so it was _almost_ like doing the work himself.

Riku had been forced to take a placement exam, too, but Sora assumed that he'd pass with flying colors. Riku had always been smart, after all. Smarter than Sora. He'd never even had to work hard at school the way Sora did. He'd just flipped through the book an hour before the exam and gotten A's without trying, no matter what class it was. There was no way he was going to fail.

Riku seemed in a good mood when he came out of his exam, a few minutes after Sora had come out of his.

"It went well?" Sora asked.

"Great," Riku said, with a strange smile.

They all went out for ice cream to celebrate. There was still a week left of summer, and it was time to make the most of it.

_He's hiding something,_ Roxas said, as they ate._ Can't you tell?_

_You just don't like him,_ Sora said.

_He did force me into a virtual reality and make Namine erase all my memories,_ Roxas pointed out.

_Oh. Right._

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

_I don't blame him,_ Roxas said, after a moment._ I would have done the same thing. If it were Axel who needed to wake up._

The mention of Axel hurt. Sora wasn't sure if that was his own pain- the guilt of someone dying for him- or if it was Roxas' pain, spilling over. Either way, it was pretty bad.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Kairi asked. "You look kind of sad."

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking."

Riku smirked a little. "That's a first."

Sora made a face at him, and Kairi giggled, and Sora forgot all about whatever Riku might or might not have been hiding.

* * *

On the first day of school, Sora walked into math class fully prepared to zone out and let Roxas do all the work. And then he caught sight of Riku.

"What," Sora asked, "are you doing in my math class?"

Riku leaned back in his chair. "It's my math class, too. Apparently I didn't do well on the placement test after all. They're holding me back a grade. Guess I'm stuck with you and Kairi." He gave Sora that smile again, the one that meant he was hiding something.

"You flunked it on purpose," Roxas said. "I knew it."

Sora tried not to look too surprised that Roxas was talking. Roxas hadn't talked to Riku before. Or to anyone, for that matter, other than Sora.

Riku shrugged. "So?"

"So," Sora said, "what about your future? And... college, and things? Aren't you worried about all of that?"

"I don't plan on going to college," Riku said, voice low. "I mean, missing two years of school probably means I can't get in anywhere anyway. What am I going to say when they ask what I was doing? 'Sorry, I was busy being seduced by the powers of darkness?' Besides, you know none of us are going to have time for that. I'm surprised we've had this much time without the worlds being in some kind of danger."

"What kind of danger is left?" Sora asked, trying to be quiet so that the other students didn't hear him. "We beat Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody. I think the worlds are safe."

Riku shrugged. "I just have a bad feeling, that's all."

"A bad feeling?" Kairi said, from behind Sora. Sora turned. "A bad feeling about what? And what are you doing in this class, anyway?"

"Everyone, take your seats," the teacher said, from the front of the class.

"We can talk about it later," Riku said.

Kairi nodded. "I'll hold you to that."

Sora sat down and let Roxas take over.

_Do you want to go to college?_ Sora asked Roxas.

He got a sort of feeling back from Roxas that was like the mental equivalent of a shrug._ It's your life,_ he said, while jotting down notes.

_You're sharing it,_ Sora pointed out. _You have as much right to decide as I do._

Maybe that was going a little too fast for Roxas, who had, after all, refused to do so much as talk until a few weeks ago. Roxas didn't respond for a while. Then again, maybe he was just busy taking notes. It seemed this math teacher was determined not to waste any time while teaching them pre-calculus, even if it meant lecturing for the entire first class.

_College might be nice, _Roxas said, finally. _I'd never really thought about it before. Except- you know. When I wasn't really myself._

When he'd been living a fake life, in a fake world, he meant. When he'd never heard of a Heartless or a Nobody, and all his worries were about his normal life that was slowly unraveling. They never talked about those times, but Sora had dreamed about them enough to know what Roxas was thinking about.

Sora wasn't very good yet at figuring out which questions would make Roxas hurt. Someday maybe he'd get better at it.

The rest of math passed uneventfully. Between classes, Riku had to explain to Kairi that he had failed the placement test. She frowned at that, and said, "Honestly, Riku, it's not like we won't all get to spend time together after school and between classes."

Riku shrugged. "It's not like it matters. School is just a way to pass the time. It doesn't affect our futures at all."

And that was all that he would talk about the subject.

Sora wasn't sure whether he agreed with Riku or not. It didn't seem like there was any logical reason to think the worlds would be in danger again. The thing about saving the world was, it was supposed to _stay _saved. But Sora had a bad feeling when he thought about it. Like he'd forgotten something important, but couldn't even remember what it was. Like maybe the worlds were still in danger, and he just didn't know why.

Well. King Mickey would tell them, if he figured that they needed to go out and fight evil again. In the meantime, there was nothing to do but keep practicing against each other with their keyblades, and to do as well as possible in school, even if math and history and things did seem a little bit irrelevant to someone who could pull weapons out of midair.

* * *

Over the next week or two, Sora and Roxas quickly fell into a pattern. First was math class. Roxas actually liked math, which was utterly strange but also really convenient, so Sora sort of retreated to the back of his mind at the beginning of class, and Roxas took over. Sora half-paid attention, but math was so dull that he could barely do that.

After that came the literature class that both of them were more or less indifferent towards. Sora did that class, because at least sometimes they did dramatic readings of things, and that was fun. After that was history- also Sora's. History was interesting enough that he didn't nod off in it, though he had trouble remembering the dates.

(Roxas remembered them despite not paying attention, which was lucky for Sora- he could just ask Roxas whenever he needed one.)

He had a chemistry class too, and he'd expected that he wouldn't like it. It was a lot of numbers, after all. But it made sense in a way that math didn't on its own, and as a bonus he got to blow things up sometimes. He and Roxas both liked it, so they both paid attention, and fought for control of their mouth.

Lunchtime was for hanging out with Kairi and Riku. That was always Sora. He'd offered to let Roxas hang out, too, but Roxas didn't seem to want to.

They all had the latest lunch period, and there were only two classes after that. PE was a challenge, because no one else could glide through the air or jump twice their height, and after two years fighting with magically enhanced abilities, Sora had trouble remembering not to do things that were obviously not physically possible. Roxas ended up taking over just because he was marginally better at pretending to be normal.

After that was a home ec. class. Sora had wanted to take a computer class, because after hanging out with Tron, computers seemed really cool. But unfortunately that class had been full, and this was the only other one that had fit his schedule.

He'd offered it to Roxas, hopefully, and Roxas had just laughed at him. But then it turned out that they made _cupcakes_ in home ec, and Sora had decided that he liked it after all, even if Selphie _had_ laughed at him when he first walked into class.

Between the two of them, they got good grades, which was awesome because Sora had always been a sort of mediocre student before. His mom seemed a little less worried about him now, and his dad had given him a nod of approval when his first test scores started to come in.

Things were pretty nice.

After school, he walked around the island with Riku and Kairi. Usually they practiced with the keyblades for a while, until they were sore and tired and grinning. Sometimes Roxas took a turn, but Sora had to hold him back- Roxas sometimes lost himself, a little, fighting. Not when he was sparring with Kairi- he was always gentle enough with her- but when he faced Riku he was too aggressive. Sora wasn't sure what it was- if he forgot that it was just a practice, or if he wasn't as sure about Riku's boundaries, or if he just felt like beating something up and Riku was the only one available- but he seemed half-determined to beat Riku to a pulp, pulling out both keyblades and attacking without much concern for Riku's or his own safety.

Sora always took over again before Riku could notice, forcing Roxas abruptly to the back of his mind to cool off.

_What's the matter with you?_ Sora asked, the first time it happened.

Roxas responded with nothing but sullen silence, which Sora soon learned was Roxas' way of saying he didn't want to talk about it.

Other than that, though, things were fine.

* * *

Afternoons, Riku and Sora went to the play island. Kairi usually met up with them, but she was late more often than not, since she was actually involved in clubs after school. Sora was never sure whether he should be trying to join more clubs or not. It would make his mom happier if he were more involved in life on the islands. But then again, Sora didn't want to have any commitments if he had to leave again suddenly. He didn't want to leave anyone in the lurch.

And any clubs he joined would mean less time to spend with Kairi and Riku.

Maybe it was unhealthy, to spend every free moment with them. But Sora didn't care. He'd spent too long separated from them. In a while- a year or two- he could worry about whether they were spending too much time together. Now was still the time for catching up, for being together every moment.

Today, they were sitting together on the bent-up old paopu tree on the play island. Riku was a little too quiet, so Sora filled the silence with chatter.

"Sometimes I really don't like school," he told Riku, after moaning about his less-than-stellar score on his literature essay. "It was hard fighting Heartless and rescuing people, but at least I wasn't _graded _on it."

Sora usually complained to Roxas, not Riku, but since Roxas tended to snap at him after five minutes, that wasn't a lot of fun.

"Join the club," Riku said. "There was a reason I wanted to leave this place. What use is school to us? We're Keyblade Masters. Someday the worlds will be threatened again and we'll have to save them. We're wasting our time here."

"Then why do you stay?" Sora asked. "We could go travel the worlds. Fight some Heartless. It would be fun."

Sora was having fun here, too. He didn't mind school when he and Roxas could split the work. Maybe that was Riku's problem- he didn't have a Roxas to do the parts that any sane person thought were boring.

"You and Kairi are happy here," Riku said, hopping off his side of the branch. "That's what matters."

Sora didn't like the way Riku said that, as if it were the end of the conversation.

"You matter, too," he pointed out. But Riku was already walking away.

Over the next few days, Sora tried very hard to think of all the things that made him want to stay on Destiny Islands.

There were all of his friends, of course. Not just Riku and Kairi, but Tidus and Selphie and Wakka, too. And there were his parents, who loved him and wanted what was best for him even if they did sometimes still look at him like the past two years had made him into a stranger.

But then he thought about all his other friends, on other worlds, and how at-home he'd felt just about everywhere he'd gone. And when he thought that maybe there was nothing special about his world- that maybe he'd be just as happy somewhere else- he felt like gravity had momentarily slipped away, and he might go flying off the surface of the world into the sky.

If that was how Riku felt all the time, it was no wonder he wanted to the end of all the thinking, Sora still wasn't sure what made him want to stay here, other than the warmth of the sunlight, which wasn't quite the same as that on any other world. And how was he supposed to make Riku feel that?

No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't. There was just no way. So Sora was just going to have to hope that he and Kairi were enough to make Riku stay. And to remember that they could always chase Riku down again if he left.

* * *

Sora's hair started growing out the wrong color.

"Your roots are blond," Riku pointed out one lunch. "It looks really weird, like you're going bald or something."

"Huh?" Sora said, and Kairi pulled a little mirror out of her bag to show him.

"Huh," he'd said again, pulling at one spike of hair and examining the roots. "That's weird."

_ It's probably something to do with me,_ Roxas said. _It's the same color as mine._

_That color was _natural_?_ Sora asked. _I thought you must have bleached it._

_No_, Roxas said, voice annoyed. _Why would I do that?_The roots started looking kind of weird after another week or two, when they were more visible. So Sora bought a bottle of hair bleach and did the rest of it to match (with Roxas' help, since Roxas actually read instructions, unlike Sora). His mom almost had a heart attack when she saw.

"You had such nice hair," she said with a moan.

Sora considered trying to explain about his hair growing out that color anyway, and decided that it would probably take a stupid amount of convincing. So he just shrugged and grinned, until she rolled her eyes at him and left him alone, murmuring something about teenagers and rebellion.

He looked kind of dumb with the huge hair _and_ the blondness- he looked like he was trying to be Cloud, only he couldn't pull it off- so he got a haircut, too. He went to school the next day, and Riku gave him the weirdest look.

"You look like Roxas," he said, and Sora took another good look in a mirror.

_We sort of do,_ Roxas said. There was an edge to his voice, as though he wasn't quite sure if Sora would be okay with it._It's just hair,_ Sora told him, unperturbed. He kind of liked the hair. It looked cool. He'd liked his old hair, too, but he had to admit it had been sort of a mess. And if he looked like Roxas, that didn't matter. Part of him _was_ Roxas, after all.

Roxas spent entirely too long every morning styling it. Sora mostly just faded to the back of their mind and slept in while Roxas messed with hair gel and a comb, and didn't wake up until after they were at school and done with math.  
Sora had always walked to school with Riku, because they lived near each other. Presumably Roxas was doing the same. Since Sora slept, he wasn't sure what they talked about.

Lunch times were still Sora's, though. Riku kept giving him weird looks, but Roxas didn't say why. Probably it wasn't a big deal.

Roxas seemed, if not happier, then calmer, these days. Before, Sora had kept getting little flashes of pain from that side of his heart, and he'd had no idea how to comfort Roxas.

But now, the pain had subsided, and instead there were flashes of guilt.

Sora was pretty sure he knew what that was about- Roxas was alive, and Axel and the rest of the Organization weren't. Sora wasn't exactly a genius at psychology or anything, but he knew about survivor's guilt. And it had to be ten times worse because it was pretty much Sora's fault that all of them were gone, and Roxas was part of Sora. Sora wasn't sure how to make Roxas feel better. Mostly he just kept quiet and tried to let Roxas sort through things. But there were times he couldn't stay quiet.

For example, Roxas doodled while he took notes, just like Sora did. Sora tended to doodle little keyblades and Heartless. He wasn't good at it. His doodles were just that- doodles. But Roxas was actually really good at drawing- Sora wondered if that was something to do with being a Nobody, or if it was unique to Roxas and Namine. Roxas drew Axel's face, for one thing, in startlingly realistic detail.

_You miss him,_ Sora said, when he saw that, doodled on the side of the lab notes they were taking.

_He was my best friend,_ Roxas said. But there was something else he wasn't saying. Not a lie, not exactly- Sora was pretty sure they _couldn't_ lie to each other- but an omission.

_I'm sorry,_ Sora said. _I would have saved him if I could. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. Not for me._

_Call it what it was,_ Roxas said. _He didn't 'get hurt.' He _died.

There was rage there, and a that weird guilt again. And then Roxas' too-tight grip snapped the beaker he was holding, a splinter of glass jabbing into Sora's hand. Everyone stared at him.

"Sorry," Sora muttered, and grabbed a broom, hiding the fact that his hand was bleeding. A spell would fix that a lot faster than a bandage, and it would be better to just take care of it on his own later, when no one was watching.

Sora didn't ask any more questions about Axel that day. He'd gotten used to Roxas being pretty mellow over the past week. It was sad to see him so upset again.

Kairi fussed over Sora in between classes- "You're still _bleeding,_ Sora-" and then Sora snuck off to the bathroom and used a quick little cure spell to fix his hand. If anyone noticed the weird flash of green light from the stall he ducked into, they didn't mention it to Sora.

"Is anything the matter?" Riku asked, when he sat down at their table for lunch. "What was up with the thing in chemistry this morning?"

Sora shrugged. "I don't know. I held it too tightly. That's all."

Riku gave him a weird look. "You seemed really angry. It takes a lot to get you that way."

It did. But it didn't really take all that much to piss off Roxas, as far as Sora could tell. Which was weird, because weren't they supposed to be basically the same person?

"I was just thinking about Axel," Sora said. "How he died. It's not a happy memory."

Riku knew all about how Axel had saved Sora, of course. So he just frowned. "That's still bothering you?"

"Yeah," Sora said, with a shrug. He wasn't sure what else to say, without revealing that Roxas existed. He was strangely reluctant to do that, mostly because Roxas didn't seemto be very comfortable letting people know.

Riku gave him a little shove. Sora looked up at him. "What?"

"I think he'd be pissed off if he knew you were all sad," Riku said. "He sacrificed himself so that you could live a nice, happy, life. Right?"

Sora brightened. "I guess so." _Right, Roxas?_

_I guess._

There was still that strong undercurrent of guilt woven through Roxas' side of their heart. But it subsided, a little bit, with Riku's words.

It was a start.


	2. Glad

**Warnings:** This chapter is where the dubcon-flavored kissing begins.

**Chapter 2: Glad  
**

* * *

Sora had had vague daydreams of asking Kairi out for some time, but he'd never quite gotten to the point where he'd gathered up his courage and done it. They were best friends. It would be as weird as asking Riku out, and besides, Sora was happy with the way things were, at least for now.

Also, Roxas complicated things. Sora had offered Roxas an equal share in his life, and he wasn't sure how that would work with dating. Would they both date the same person? Would Sora date Kairi while Roxas dated Namine? Was Namine even still around the way Roxas was? It wasn't like there was a guide that came with this, or anything.

None of it seemed to quite fit right, so Sora decided to let the issue sit for a while. It wasn't like there was a rush, or anything. They had time to figure all of this out.

The time or two that Sora brought it up with Roxas, Roxas refused to talk about any of it, and Sora wasn't sure why. All he got in return for his questions was silence. Roxas just refused to talk to Sora about romance at all.

Until one day, Sora asked, "So what were your feelings towards Namine, then?"

Roxas was silent, then, too, and for a moment Sora thought that this was going to be just like all the other times he'd tried to get Roxas to open up. He paid close attention to his feelings, though, because if Roxas liked Namine as much as Sora liked Kairi, then Sora was bound to feel some of the overflow.

But there was no overflow of love or anything. There was just confusion.

"Namine?" Roxas repeated. "She was a friend. She was the only who could really understand what it was like to be a Nobody. She also erased my memories of Axel, so sometimes I'm not too fond of her. Why do you ask?"

"I thought you might have liked her," Sora said. "I don't know. The way I like Kairi?"

Roxas seemed even more confused by this. "No," he said, finally. "No, not- not Namine. Never her."

There was a wash of sadness from him, then, which Sora didn't fully understand. And that was all Sora got out of him, that day.

* * *

It was just after a particularly long spar to stay in shape with their keyblades, out on the play island, just Riku and Sora. Sora was sweaty and sort of high on adrenaline, because fighting Riku was _hard, _though fun. And Riku looked sort of dazed, even though he'd won. And then, with no warning at all, he bent hold and caught Sora's mouth with his own.

Sora let out a sort of squawk and pulled away. It wasn't that it was unwelcome- though he wasn't sure yet if it was- but he hadn't been expecting it. Hadn't thought about anything like that before, not with Riku. To be honest, he'd only half-thought about this sort of stuff with Kairi, and hadn't come to any conclusions yet.  
Riku looked hurt, and Sora was sorry.

"You didn't seem to mind before," Riku said, and whatever reply Sora had been preparing died on his lips.

"Huh?" he started saying, and then Roxas pushed Sora into the back of their mind and said: "I wasn't expecting it, you _dork_," and Sora would have let out a sudden sound of comprehension if he'd had control of his mouth.

And suddenly Sora's heart was beating fast, and Riku was pressing against him, solid and warm, and uncomfortable in a way that was causing Sora to rapidly re-evaluate his sexuality. And Roxas was pressing back, tongue working against Riku's in a way that made it obvious this wasn't the first time the two of them had done this.

_You didn't tell me that you and Riku..._ Sora said, a little breathlessly even though he technically didn't need breath to talk in his head.

Roxas didn't reply. He was a little busy.

Sora spent a moment trying to decide how weird this situation was, and then gave up and relaxed into it. He had another person living in his head. Things were always going to be weird.

After that, he didn't try interrupting anymore.

Later, after Riku had walked Roxas home and left him there to work on homework, Sora took control back.

"He thinks you're me," Sora said, when he had his mouth back. (Albeit a little swollen) "Doesn't he?"

In the back of his mind, Roxas said: _I _am_ you._

And that was sort of true, but in a lot of really fundamentally important ways it _wasn't_. This wasn't math class, where it didn't really matter which one of them did the work, as long as someone in their head knew math. This was about people, and feelings, and it mattered who was doing what. If Riku thought he was dating Sora, when he was really just making out with Roxas, Sora wasn't sure how this whole mess could end in anything other than heartbreak. For all three of them.

"You're going to have to tell him you still exist," Sora said.

_I kept it secret this long,_ Roxas said. _He doesn't suspect a thing. _There was a weird sense of pride from him at that, mixed with sadness. And that guilt again, that Sora had thought was about Axel. Apparently it was about Riku, instead. At least, right now it was. Sora still wasn't letting go of his survivor's guilt theory.

Sora was pretty sure that the kissing thing couldn't have been going on for more than about a week and a half. That was how long Roxas had been making the walk to school on his own. That was the only time he could have been kissing Riku without Sora noticing.

"What if I didn't want to date Riku?" Sora asked. (As a purely hypothetical question, because if he'd realized Riku was that good of a kisser, he might have done something about it earlier.)

The problem with upsetting Roxas was that they shared a heart. So the bolt of panic hit Sora, too, sudden and painful.

"I'm not going to break up with him," Sora said. "Stop _panicking,_ I can't think."

He took a few breaths. Gradually, the panic subsided.

_You want what I want,_ Roxas said, which was broadly true. It came with the shared heart. But just because they felt the same things didn't mean they felt them with the same intensity. Sora hadn't even realized that they were attracted to Riku. To guys. There had always been Kairi before. There was still Kairi, in fact. His feelings for her hadn't gone anywhere, just because he'd realized he felt things for Riku, too.

This whole situation was a mess. Sora wasn't sure how he could possibly fix it.

"I'm not going to lie to Riku for you," Sora said. "You're going to tell him. Okay?"

Roxas didn't reply, and he continued to not-reply no matter how Sora rephrased his demands and mentally shouted.

Roxas continued to sulk for the next day, which meant that Sora had to get up and get ready on his own. He didn't know what to do with the stupid hair gel, so he just let his hair flop around whichever way it wanted to. It probably looked terrible, but of the two of them, only Roxas was going to be really upset about Sora's bedhead. Served him right.

* * *

Riku didn't show up for the walk to school, and Sora wasn't sure if he ought to be glad or upset.

Roxas sulked all the way through math class, and if Sora had been lost in math before, it was nothing compared to how lost he was now, after Roxas handling it for so long.

There was a quiz. Roxas was still nowhere to be found.

_I get it, _Sora told him, as he stared at the page, desperately trying to think of answers to put down. Any answers. Even wrong ones, if he could just put something down_. You made your point. I need you._

This failed to appease Roxas. Sora turned in the quiz mostly blank.

By the lunchtime, Sora was seriously worried, and more than a little exhausted. He'd been relying on Roxas a lot. It was _work_ to pay attention for the whole day. How did people with only one mind handle it?

Was Roxas really that upset?

He collapsed next to Kairi on the bench at their table with an audible thunk.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked.

"Tired," he said, and sort of collapsed onto the table. "Have I mentioned that I hate math lately?"

He could _feel_ Riku's strange look at that. Maybe Roxas had told him that he liked math while pretending to be Sora, the weirdo.

"The quiz was pretty hard," Kairi said. "But I'm sure you did fine. You've been doing so well in math." She gave him an encouraging smile.  
Sora just groaned.

Riku took his hand, and didn't say anything, and Sora could almost feel Roxas' half of their heart getting lighter. Or maybe it was just him.

When Roxas still hadn't made an appearance by nightfall, Sora said: "If you don't let me know you're okay, I'm going to find Riku and tell him everything right now."

Reluctantly, Roxas said: _Don't_.

"I don't see why you're so worried," Sora said. "Riku likes us. It doesn't matter that it was you who kissed him, right? I mean, it's always going to be both of us. We share the same heart. And, you know, lips."

_He'll be mad,_ Roxas said. And yeah, Sora could see that. Riku didn't like lies. No one did.

And that was when he thought of another plan.

"Roxas is still alive, you know," Sora told Riku, when they were walking home from school together he next day. Kairi was late because of a meeting for another of her clubs. That meant this was the perfect time to talk to Riku alone.

"Yeah?" Riku said.

Taking a breath, before Roxas could stop him, Sora said: "He likes you too, you know."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Roxas was panicking again. Sora tried not to let it show. "Yeah," he said. And then, in the spirit of full disclosure, he said: "We've been taking turns being in control, you know. With classes and things."

He looked straight into Riku's eyes and said: "Would it be weird if he kissed you?"

Riku looked a bit taken aback.

_Come on, _Sora thought- quietly, so that Roxas didn't hear. _Don't be weird about this._

"Well... If he wants to."

Good.

_Your turn,_ Sora told Roxas, and pushed him to the front of their mind.

Roxas blinked in the sunlight, the panic now fully evident on their face. He looked at Riku, who was sort of looming above them and looking at them curiously. It was obvious that he wasn't going to make the first move. The two of them stood like statues for a moment, neither moving.

_This isn't the first time you've kissed him,_ Sora said.

At that, Roxas seemed a little more certain. He tilted his head up. "You're going to have to bend down a bit," he said, voice way too hostile to be romantic _at all_. "I'm not jumping."

Riku's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Alright," he said. He leaned down, and caught Roxas' mouth.

It was a lot gentler than the kisses before. The ones that Riku had thought were for Sora. And that was okay, because Roxas was a lot more hesitant now.

It lasted only a moment, and it was almost- _almost_- chaste.

_I've kissed him before,_ Roxas said to Sora, after another moment of staring. _But that was the first time he kissed _me.

And then Sora was the one in control again. He grinned, put his hands behind his head, and did a little stretch. "See? That went well."

Riku laughed a little, kind of awkwardly. "So how does this work? You said you've been sharing control? I mean, until a moment ago, I thought he was- you know. Gone."

"We're both here," Sora said. "All the time. Just- we take turns being in control. It's working out."

"Right," Riku said. If he was weirded out, he was doing a good job of hiding it. Sora gave him a thankful smile, and they continued walking.

_See,_ Sora said. _That wasn't so bad._

_He still doesn't know it was me that kissed him before,_ Roxas said. _This is only marginally more honest._

_It feels a lot more honest,_ Sora said. _The rest can come later, when he's used to the idea of you._

Roxas wasn't panicking any more, at least.

* * *

Sora had possibly the worst luck in the world, because later that day, Kairi asked him out.

Sora opened his mouth. He closed it.

"I like you," he said. I really do. But..." he said. He scratched his head. "I think I'm dating Riku. Sort of."

"Sort of?" Kairi asked, one eyebrow arching up in amusement.

What followed was a long, tangled explanation.

"So," Kairi said when he was finished, "Roxas is dating Riku. Who thinks he's been dating you."

"I think we're both dating him," Sora said, while Roxas remained silent and unhelpful in the back of his mind. "I mean, Roxas isn't the only one who likes him. But I like you, too. I like both of you."

He scratched his head. "Do you and Naminé have this much trouble?"

Kairi looked at him evenly for a moment. "Naminé and I are the same person."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"We aren't separate," Kairi said. "There isn't a voice in the back of my head. There isn't another person inside of me. We're the same."

"Huh," Sora said. "Isn't that weird, though? To have two sets of memories but be one person?"

"It feels right," she said. "I assumed it was the same for you, until today. I guess it's a complicated thing."

"Yeah," Sora said. "You can say that again."

She smiled at him. "You'll figure it out," she said. "Close your eyes?"

He complied.

Her lips barely brushed against his before she pulled away again. "Give Riku that kiss from me when you see him," she said, with a cryptic little smile, as though she had figured everything out already and was just waiting for Sora to catch up.

And then she left him alone, to puzzle things out.

"Do you think it's possible to love two people at once?" Roxas asked Riku the next day, as they sat alone on the beach near the Secret Place.

Sora wished the ground would swallow him up, right there. Or that he could hit Roxas. Without hitting himself, because that kind of ruined the whole thing.

Riku gave him a thoughtful look. "I don't see why not." His look was guarded. Wary. And Sora thought, _no, no, no,_ but Roxas didn't shut up.

"I'm not talking about _us_," Roxas said, gesturing at his and Sora's chest. "I mean, that's a whole bundle of complications on its own, but I'm not talking about that right now." At that Riku looked even more wary. "I'm talking about Kairi," Roxas said. "It's always been pretty obvious that you like her."

Riku frowned. Sora let out an internal sigh of relief, and chimed in with, "Remember that Paopu fruit you wanted to share with her? You challenged me to a contest to see you would get to share it with her. I mean, you never exactly hid the fact that you liked her."

"It's not a bad thing," Roxas said. "I mean, Sora likes her, too." Sora had a few choice words to say about that, but Roxas ignored him. "And I'm pretty sure she likes both of you. She told Sora to give you a kiss from her."

Sora didn't miss how Riku's eyes darkened a bit, when he realized it was Roxas in control at the moment, and not Sora. Roxas couldn't have missed it, either. But he didn't say anything.

"The three of you work well together," Roxas said. "And it's completely obvious that all of you are stupidly in love with each other. I just thought I should tell you. Since Sora won't ever do it."

"Oh," Riku said. And then: "What about you?"

Roxas shrugged. "Kairi is nice enough. I'm not really interested in her that way, though. She's. You know. A girl." He shrugged. "But I'm already sharing you with Sora. One more person doesn't make that big a difference to me."

Riku laughed a little. And Sora thought, no, this couldn't be this easy. Nothing was ever this easy.

"We'll have to have a talk, later," he said. And then he smirked a little, and said: "But that's enough talking for right now, okay?"

"Fine by me," Roxas said.

Riku wasn't so much taller when they were both sitting down. Roxas could initiate things. He wasn't gentle. He bit Riku's lips a little too hard. He left hickeys. He treated kissing like a battle, like he was determined to leave marks like bruises on Riku's skin.

Sora was right there, too. He wasn't at the back of the mind, though he wasn't quite in control, either. He felt every movement as keenly as if he were making them, anticipated what Roxas was going to do at any moment, because he would have done the same thing. In this moment, there wasn't really a difference between being in the back seat and being in the driver's seat, so to speak.

This moment- this was as close as they were ever going to get to being the same person again.

And then, abruptly, Riku stilled.

"This isn't Sora now, is it?"

Roxas pulled himself off of Riku, annoyed. "It's Roxas," he said. "Who do you think you've been talking to for the last half hour?"

"You kiss the same as Sora does," Riku said. He relaxed again. Marginally.

"We're the same person," Roxas said. "Well, sort of. What did you expect?"

_You could just tell him,_ Sora said, annoyed at the half-truths.

But Riku relaxed all the way, then, and put his hand on the side of Roxas' face, and kissed him again. Gently.

And Sora's annoyance melted away because Roxas was really, really happy for the first time Sora could remember.

How could he be mad about that?

* * *

Sora and Riku and Kairi did have that talk, the next day. Or, they tried to. They all met up for the walk to Sora's house after school, where they were theoretically going to study but were probably actually going to talk for hours first.

"Kairi," Sora said, words bursting out of him to fill the usually-comfortable silence. "I gave Riku that kiss, like you said."

She smiled cryptically. "And?"

"And..." Sora wasn't sure what to say. This had been a lot easier in his head.

Riku seemed a too sheepish to talk at all, and finally Roxas just took over and said "Look, Kairi. Sora and Riku both like you, and they aren't sure what to do about it."  
Kairi smiled brightly, not at all thrown off by Roxas' intrusion into the conversation. "Well, what do you normally do when you like a girl?"

"But we _both_ like you," Sora said. "And we're dating each other, and we don't want to break up. But Roxas doesn't feel that way about you, and I don't know how you feel at all-although Roxas says you like me- and-"

Kairi pressed a finger against his mouth. "Shh," she said. And then she gave him a kiss.

"I'm not going to choose between you," she announced. And Sora thought, _Oh no, she's going to have us fight to the _death_. _

_Don't be an idiot_, Roxas told him, and Sora would have stuck his tongue out at Roxas if there were any feasible way to do it that didn't make him look insane.

"I love both of you," she added. "And you both love me, and each other. I don't see why we can't just all date."

Riku looked stunned by this pronouncement. "Are you sure?" he asked. "You'd be- okay with that?"

"Yes," she said. "I would be more than okay. I'd be delighted." She smiled, and pressed one of Sora's hands to Riku's, the way she had when Riku had looked like Xehanort's Heartless, and it was like that moment all over again, where Sora had realized that they were finally, finally together again.

And it was funny because they were only agreeing to date, it felt like something more permanent. Something that would last forever. And maybe they'd been heading that way since they all shared that paopu fruit a few weeks ago, or maybe since Kairi had washed up on their island and the three of them had been together for the first time, all those years ago.

It had always been three of them. Because if it were any fewer, one of them would get left out.

Now Roxas was here and it was more complicated, but complication wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was just... what it was. And Sora was perfectly okay with that.

* * *

Kairi's kisses belonged to Sora, and Riku's kisses belonged to Roxas and Sora equally. That was the way they split things up. Roxas sort of faded to the back of his mind when Sora and Kairi were making out, and Sora- well, _didn't_, when Roxas was kissing Riku.

Kissing Riku was still the closest that the two of them came to being the same person. When both of them were trying to do the same thing at the same time, it was less a struggle for control and more a struggle to be _faster, faster. _Sora wasn't sure about his first time kissing Riku. It was all muddled up with Roxas' times kissing Riku. And that was okay, because Sora didn't mind sharing, especially when it didn't even feel like sharing.

Kissing Kairi was a lot less of a muddle. He and Riku had to take turns with it, of course. Kairi only had one mouth, after all, and Riku and Sora had one each. This turned out to be a lot less confusing than three people kissing with two mouths, though, and they worked it out without too much trouble.

Sora and Riku were both a lot gentler with Kairi than each other. Maybe it was the memory of seeing her lying on the ground, worse than dead, heart gone- but Sora was careful with her, like she might break if he was too rough. And if anything, Riku was even more timid with her.

And then, after a few weeks of dating, when Sora and Kairi were sitting in the Secret Place- now decorated with a worn old couch and a table Riku had built out of driftwood- Kairi said, "Stop treating me like a doll."

"What?" Sora asked.

"I'm not going to collapse if you kiss me too hard."

"I know that," Sora said.

"Then really kiss me. Kiss me like you and Riku kiss."

So Sora scooted a little closer to her on the couch. "Okay," he said, He moved one hand behind her head, and kissed her gently on the lips.

He'd planned to gradually get more passionate. But Kairi interrupted his plan by shoving her tongue into his mouth.

He felt himself reacting more than he had expected. He pulled away a little so that she wouldn't feel his erection- and she grabbed his ass and yanked him closer again, her grin wicked against his mouth.

"That's more like it," she said, pulling away briefly for air before kissing him again.

Taking his cue from Kairi's behavior, and hoping he was doing everything alright, Sora ground against her hip. Kairi made an appreciative noise, so Sora figured he was doing something right.

"I leave for five minutes and the two of you are all over each other," Riku said from behind them, amused.

Sora and Kairi broke apart reluctantly. "You could join us," Sora pointed out.

Riku came over and loomed awkwardly over them both. Kairi grabbed his ass, since apparently this was her working strategy today. Then she looked up at his face, as though daring him to make the next move.

He leaned down and kissed her, sweetly. Kairi looked disappointed. "Harder than that," she commanded. She stood, presumably to make this easier for him. Then she grabbed him by the hair and mashed their mouths together.

Sora winced a little. It looked painful. But it got her message across. Riku pulled away for a moment and rubbed his jaw- "Dammit, Kairi, that _hurt-" _but then he pulled her into a deeper kiss, his hands curling around her sides, nearly touching at the small of her back. His mouth moved to her neck, leaving a trail of hickeys in its wake.

Kairi's eyes flicked to Sora, and she jerked her head to the side a little as if to say _get over here, you idiot_.  
Sora didn't need to be told twice.

Sora let out a sigh of relief when Riku and Kairi were finally gone and he'd made it back home, through the (thankfully empty) house, and into his room.

He loved Riku and Kairi. He loved spending time with them. But sometimes a guy needed a little alone time, especially since there was currently a lot of kissing and no sex.

He went upstairs to his room, still remembering the way Kairi had pressed her hips against him, the way Riku had shoved his tongue down his throat, and involuntarily let out a little moan.

Thank God no one was around to hear it.

He locked the door, sat on the edge of his bed, and unzipped his pants. It was time to take care of things himself.

_You do realize you aren't really alone? _Roxas said.

Sora flushed beet red. He quickly zipped up his pants again.

_Sorry,_ he said, completely and utterly mortified.

Some things had definitely been easier when Roxas had slept most of the time.

_Stupid,_ Roxas said. _You aren't the only one here that needs this. It's my body, too, right? That's what you keep telling me, anyway._  
Roxas took control of their hands and unzipped Sora's pants again.  
Sora hadn't realized it was possible to blush harder than he'd been blushing. But apparently it was.

Not that he did anything to stop Roxas as his hands wandered. Instead, he relaxed, letting Roxas have more control. It was just like masturbation, he decided. Or possibly a hand job. But neither of those things were terribly weird, so this wasn't, either, he decided. Nope, not weird at all.  
He kept telling himself that as Roxas began to jerk him off quickly and efficiently. And Sora wondered- had Roxas done this before, in Sora's body?

Chances were, he had. He'd had Sora's body for nearly a year, while Sora slept and Namine restored his memories. What guy went a whole year without masturbating? Sora imagined Roxas in total control, doing the same thing to himself that he was now doing to Sora- only, still in Sora's body- and at that exact moment, he came.

That was the first time. It wasn't the last, because they were teenagers and horny and often frustrated. Making out with Kairi and Riku stirred things up, and stirring things down again sort of had to be done together, since Roxas and Sora shared a body. Sometimes Roxas took control, and sometimes Sora was in charge, but they always did it together.

Sora liked it better when Roxas had control. It was strange, not to have total control of himself, but it wasn't like he had total control of himself all the time anyway, so it wasn't _scary _or anything, like it might have been. And it was weirdly hot, which Sora wasn't entirely comfortable with yet.  
And maybe it was weird, not to be able to jerk off in private. Alone. But Sora was getting used to never being alone. It was sort of a nice change after all that time spent separated from Riku and Kairi and, well, the parts of himself that were Roxas.

If a lack of privacy was the only price to pay for having all of them back again, he was willing to pay it, and gladly.

* * *

**Notes**: Thanks to british_spy on lj for betaing this for me, and to both her and zephyras13 for listening to me flail about it for _months._


	3. Growing Up

**Chapter 3: Growing Up**

* * *

Sora had Roxas to take over gym class for him, so he didn't really think about how hard it must be for Riku or Kairi. It hadn't occurred to him that magical powers would cause just as many problems for them as they did for him, though probably he should have realized that.

Riku wasn't in Sora's gym class, so Sora didn't see him struggling. But gym classes were co-ed, so Kairi and Sora were together then. At first, there were no problems. It wasn't like Kairi was tempted to dodge roll everywhere the way Sora was, and she was just learning to use her keyblade, so she didn't have a lot of special powers or anything. But as they trained more and more, Kairi sort of learned to be where you didn't expect her. Turn to the right to fight her, and she was suddenly on your left, or completely behind you. It was the same when she was doing sports, and it meant that soon everyone was picking her for teams first.

And then she got even better at it, and Sora was pretty sure that most people couldn't move all the way across the soccer field while everyone happened to be looking the other way. Her team always won. So then Sora decided that wasn't really fair, and, well, okay, maybe he used a little magic of his own when Roxas didn't feel like doing gym, to give himself just a moment more in the air to shoot the ball at the basket, or to swim a little faster when they did relays. It was only fair, when Kairi's team was doing so well. "I don't know how the two of you do it," the teacher said to them, after a few days of this competition. "Keep up the good work."

When the teacher was out of earshot, Sora said, "We'd better stop doing this."

"Doing what?" Kairi asked.

Sora stared at her.

"You mean you were doing it on _accident?"_ he asked.

Kairi's expression grew irritated. "Doing _what?"_ she asked again.

Sora wasn't quite sure that what she was doing _was_ magical. Maybe it was just an ability, like when Sora had finally gotten the hang of blocking attacks. But it didn't seem quite fair to the other students, regardless of the source of her power. And Sora and Roxas hadn't been helping at all, with their competition against her.

"You sort of... disappear," he said, lamely, because he wasn't sure at all _what_ she was doing.

Kairi still looked confused, but at least she didn't look annoyed anymore. "I do?" she asked.

"It's just like when we're fighting," he said. "You're never where I think you're going to be, and then suddenly you're somewhere else."

"But..." she said, "I don't do anything special. I just go where I need to be."

"Maybe you should 'go where you need to be' a little more slowly?" Sora said. "I mean, people are going to notice pretty soon."

"Does it matter if they do?" Kairi asked. "I mean, we aren't quite normal. Especially you and Riku. Is it wrong to use those powers?"

"It might freak people out," Sora said, uncertainly.

"So?" Kairi said. "That's their problem, not ours. The three of us freak people out every day by dating each other. Does that make it wrong?"

"No..." Sora said. "But that's different. That's not hurting anyone. But when we win at all sports all the time, someone else has to lose."

Kairi bit her lip. "It's just gym," she said. "Sometimes you overthink things, Sora. But maybe I'll tone it down a little."

Sora smiled at her, and she smiled back, and, without thinking, Sora leaned forward and caught her mouth in a kiss. It wasn't as deep as it could have been- as deep as Kairi preferred- but it was the most public kiss he'd ever participated in.

There were a couple whistles from behind him, and Sora pulled away.

"No PDAs," the gym teacher called out.

"Sorry," Sora shouted back in reply, but his heart wasn't in the apology.

* * *

One of the confusing things about coming back to the islands after they'd been destroyed for a year was that everyone thought he was still fifteen, when actually he was a year older. He tried to explain to his mom about that, but she refused to listen. So maybe it was too much for her to think that for a year she just hadn't existed, or maybe she thought he was trying to get twice as many birthday presents, but anyway, she didn't believe him.

So on Sora's birthday, there were sixteen candles on the cake, and when Sora complained to Riku and Kairi, Riku just arched one eyebrow.

"You were sleeping for one of those years," Riku pointed out.

"Roxas wasn't," Sora said.

"You can't count Roxas' years as your own. You'd be eighteen by that logic, since he's been with you for over a year."

"Well, the year I was asleep still counts. I mean, I grew like a foot during that time."

"You're still a midget," Riku said, affectionately.

"_Everyone_ is a midget compared to you," Sora said.

Kairi giggled. "It's true," she said.

So, okay, that conversation went nowhere. But Sora still maintained that he was seventeen, no matter what anyone else said. At least to Riku and Kairi, since they understood about what had happened. But he blew out his candles without any more complaint, and opened his presents.

It wasn't a big party. Sora's mom had wanted to invite practically everyone from Sora's school, but Sora had declined. Still, Riku and Kairi were there, and Sora's mom, and even his dad had managed to get off work early to eat cake with them and give Sora a present.

Sora didn't get anything too extravagant. Riku gave Sora a few gummi ship parts he'd picked up on his travels, which was nice because Sora still liked to tinker with the gummi ship when he had some free time, and Kairi gave him a key chain she'd made, to try with his keyblade. It was three colors of twine, all twisted together in the shape of a star.

"I don't know if it'll work," she said, "but I figured it was worth a try."

So of course, before Sora could open presents from his parents, he had to try out the new key chain. He summoned his keyblade, which caused his parents to gasp- had they really never seen it before? He supposed they hadn't- and quickly attached the new key chain.

The keyblade shifted form. Sora was glad about that. He'd never tried just any keychain, and he'd been worried that they keyblade would just stay the Kingdom Key. The form the keyblade took was ornate and flowery, and it took a moment for Sora to recognize it.

"Hey, it's your keyblade, Kairi," he said.

Kairi beamed.

So then Sora had to explain to his parents what the keyblade was- again, since apparently they hadn't been paying close attention that first mad day when he'd first come home- and insist that no, he wasn't going to stop using it, because it had saved his life countless times, and anyway, he knew how to use it so it wasn't dangerous to him. Or to anyone around him, yes Mom, he was _sure__._

After all of that, he got to open his presents from his parents. His dad got him some cash, which was nice enough- Sora had lots of munny from his travels, but he was afraid to spend it in case people started wondering where a seventeen- _Sixteen_, Roxas corrected helpfully_- teenage _boy had gotten so much to spend. Plus, Sora wasn't sure how taxes worked or anything, but he was pretty sure that "Saving the worlds" wasn't a valid way to earn income.

Anyway.

His mom got him an mp3 player, and Sora was certain he'd break it before he figured out how to work it. But he thanked her for it anyway, because it was the thought that counted, right?

_They don't know you anymore_, Roxas observed. _They don't know what you like. But they tried._

He hadn't changed all that much, had he? It wasn't like he'd had _time_ while he was out saving everyone. But he'd come back to find that wooden swords weren't that interesting when you could pull out the real thing at a moment's notice, and that the games he'd played before he left seemed childish now.

He didn't feel like a kid anymore.

He grinned at everyone who was there for him, and tried not to mind that things had changed.

They ate a little cake, and then Sora and Riku and Kairi went out on a walk.

"Those weren't our real presents," Kairi told Sora. "We have something better."

"Yeah?" Sora said, brightening even more than he already had. "What did you get me?"

"Shh," Kairi said. "You'll find out." She smiled, and Sora decided he'd rather keep seeing her smile than pester them more.

It was a near thing, though.

They took a long, circuitous route to the beach, passing by Kairi's house for her to grab something. And then they took their little rowboats out to the play island. The boats were getting cramped. They'd have to get bigger ones, soon. Or maybe one big one, that they could all share. Sora wasn't sure how Riku was managing to avoid falling out of his boat.

They went to the secret place again, because it was the most private place they had. It still wasn't too nice- there was just an old couch and a pile of rugs, and the door to the heart of the world still lurked ominously nearby- but it was the best they had.

"I want to give you a hand job," Kairi announced, a little too loudly. Sora looked around quickly, in case someone had materialized behind them in the past few minutes, while he wasn't looking.

_You're such a virgin,_ Roxas said.

_So are you_, Sora said, confused, and he would have tried to figure out what the really pointed silence he got in response meant, except, you know, there was a hand job waiting for him and he was kind of distracted.

"You're sure you want to?" Sora said.

Kairi stuck out her tongue. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it." Then, more serious, "I mean, if _you _don't want to-"

"I want," Sora said. "I mean, as long as you do. Course I do, what guy in his right mind would say no to that?"

_Guess that's my cue to get out of here and leave the three of you to fumble things out_, Roxas said, and Sora could feel him sort of fade out as he went to sleep. It was a weird feeling, but Sora was almost used to it by now.

And then Kairi sat next to him on the couch, and kissed him boldly, and unzipped his pants. Riku sat on Sora's other side (the couch made an ominous noise at their combined weight, but held) and cupped Sora's face, drawing him into a deep kiss. Meanwhile, Kairi had pulled out a little bottle of hand lotion from her bag, and was rubbing it on her hands. Huh. Well, clearly she knew what she was doing. Sora wasn't sure how, exactly, but he wasn't going to complain. Maybe she'd been talking to Riku.

Kairi's hands were calloused from keyblade practice, but Sora expected that. He knew Kairi's hands pretty well. He'd held them, and kissed them, and now they were doing exciting things with his penis, and that made them even awesomer hands. All parts of Kairi were pretty awesome, Sora decided.

The slippery-smoothness of the lotion made her hands new and different, though, and Sora let out a little moan.

He didn't last long, especially because Riku kept making aroused noises against Sora's neck. They were almost as loud as the moans Sora was making, honestly.

When he finished, he looked up at Kairi's face and saw a satisfied smile. So that was good. Sora had a half-formed fuzzy notion that maybe girls would be grossed out by penises or something, but obviously this was not the case.

Sora collapsed onto Kairi's lap once he'd cleaned himself up a bit- they kept a box of tissues in the secret place, although they'd been meant more for the cold Riku had had a couple weeks before than for cleaning up after- um. Well, Sora wasn't going to complain. He felt sort of warm inside, and tired. The tiredness was pretty normal, he was sure. But the warmth- that was new. He felt... loved, as cheesy as that sounded.

_What did you mean about me being such a virgin?_ Sora asked Roxas. _Does that mean you _aren't _one?_ But Roxas was fast asleep and didn't respond. Or maybe he was just being quiet because he didn't want to answer. It was hard to tell. Sora made a mental note to ask Roxas about that later when it would be harder to avoid the question.

After the hand job, Sora sort of lost his interest in making out for a while, and since it was his birthday, he got to pick what they did. So they just sat and talked for a while, Sora's head on Kairi's lap and his legs tangled up with Riku's on the other end of the couch. Sora sort of felt Roxas wake up, a little after that, and said: _hey_.

_Hey_, Roxas said back. And then, with the mental equivalent of a smirk, _You seem pretty satisfied._

Sora wanted to stick his tongue out at Roxas, but recognized that this was both childish and very difficult to do, so he settled for a contented silence, letting Kairi and Riku's talk wash over him like waves on the shore.

He drifted off at one point, and when he woke again he was standing on the shore of the play island, staring at the sunset. His hands were clenched into fists."Everything okay?" Sora asked, gently taking control back from Roxas.

"Just thinking," Roxas said.

"About what?"

Roxas was silent for a moment. "About why the sun sets red," he finally answered, which wasn't an answer at all.

"Where are Riku and Kairi?"

"Kairi had to go home. Riku is around, somewhere. I told him I needed a bit of time alone."

"You're sure you're okay?"

Roxas shrugged Sora's shoulders. "Fine," he said.

Sora could tell that Roxas wasn't all that upset, at least at the moment, because he couldn't feel much from that side of his heart. So he just went off to look for Riku.

It wasn't that hard to find him. No one ever came to the island but them anymore, which meant there weren't many footprints to follow. Riku was on the little island that he'd always practiced swordsmanship on, back before they'd had real keyblades to fight with.

"You alright?" Riku said. "You seemed really upset."

Roxas shook Sora's head. "No, I'm fine."

"You never told me what your real present was," Sora said, to spare Roxas any further questioning.

Riku looked sheepish. "Er," he said. "It's not, you know, like Kairi's."

Roxas shrugged. "Neither of us expected it to be."

"It's just," Riku said. "I mean. Spring break is coming up in a few weeks. And I know both of you miss your friends on other worlds. Like Pence and Olette and Hayner. So I talked to Kairi, and we thought it would be a good idea to go on a little vacation on the Gummi ship. Just- you know- all of us. You and Roxas, me, and Kairi."

Sora could feel his face light up, and he absolutely could not have said if it was him that was so happy, or Roxas.

Then reality kicked in.

"My mom will never let me go," Sora said.

"She's fine with it, actually," Riku said. "I mean, she was when I brought it up to her. I won't say it didn't take a little convincing-"

Sora threw his arms around Riku in what was probably the least manly hug ever. But then again, since everyone kept insisting he was only sixteen, it wasn't like anyone thought he was a man anyway.

"You," he told Riku, "are the best boyfriend ever."

Riku turned red.

* * *

One of the conditions of Sora's mom letting them go on vacation all together was that they had to keep in touch. At first Sora wasn't sure how to do that- it wasn't like sending letters in bottles was what you would call the _fastest_ method of communication- but after some fiddling with the home phone (breaking it three times in the process) Sora and Roxas managed to rig it up so that the Gummi ship could make calls to Sora's home phone. Sora was going to give Roxas all the credit for that. He certainly hadn't managed it all on his own.

And then, finally, spring break came. Sora's bags had been packed for days, with some of his own clothes, and some of the ones that Roxas barely ever wore. He'd grabbed a bunch of his favorite key chains, too, just in case there were Heartless on their trip. There seemed to be a few Heartless everywhere- Sora had even fought off a couple of Shadows on Destiny Islands since they'd returned home- so it was a good bet that they'd run into some while they were in Twilight Town and other worlds.

Kairi and Riku seemed a bit more prepared than Sora and Roxas were when they all piled their luggage into the Gummi ship- they had at least twice as much luggage- but Sora figured that if he'd managed to rescue Kairi and Riku from the clutches of darkness and defeat Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody with just his keyblade and the potions he'd picked up along the way, then a vacation wasn't going to pose much of a problem.

They went to Twilight Town first. Sora found Hayner and Pence and Olette right away and introduced them to Riku and Kairi. Sora let Roxas have control almost the whole time they were there. Roxas deserved a chance to get to know the real Twilight Town kids. Sora had noticed him staring at the photo Sora had, of all four of them together. It wasn't right, that Roxas had been ripped away from his friends like that, even if it had been all fake. This was a good chance to fix that, even though it wasn't going to last.

They ate sea salt ice cream on the clock tower, and Sora could feel Roxas' mood become melancholy.

_What's wrong?_ Sora asked.

_Nothing,_ Roxas said, in a tone that made it clear that he didn't want to talk about it. _I'm just thinking._

Sora didn't know what to make of that. _Did you come here when you were in the simulated Twilight Town? Is that why you're sad?_

Roxas sighed, which made everyone look at him. He shook his head.

_It's nothing,_ he said, again unconvincingly.

Getting Roxas to talk was like pulling teeth. But that was normal.

Everyone gradually looked away from Sora and Roxas and went back to their ice cream. Sora licked a drip off of Roxas' ice cream to keep it from falling. Roxas didn't even get annoyed, which meant there was something seriously wrong.

_You can tell me,_ Sora wheedled.

Roxas sighed again, this time just internally since Sora had control of their body at the moment.

_I used to sit here with Axel, _he finally said. _After missions._

Oh.

They didn't talk much about what had happened to Axel. It hurt both of them to think about it. Sora hadn't really even known him, and it still hurt to think about how he'd sacrificed himself to save Sora. He could feel a little of Roxas' pain, too, and he knew he was only feeling a fraction of what Roxas felt.

"You're upset," Olette said, glancing over at Sora and Roxas. "Is everything alright?"

Sora didn't see the point in denying it. Roxas was the one who gave evasive answers and was too quiet. Sora wasn't like that, even if they were technically the same person.

"I was just- remembering someone," Sora said. "A... friend... who died."

Olette, who was sitting nearest to Sora, was first to respond. "Oh, no," she said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Sora said. "I mean- it's not your fault. And it was a while ago. I just... still get sad, sometimes, thinking about it."

Kairi knew what was going on, and it was her who pulled Sora into a hug, stepping around Olette to do so. Riku wasn't far behind.

_See? _Sora told Roxas. _Everyone wants to help._

But that didn't seem to make Roxas feel better, and his mood bled over to Sora until he couldn't really enjoy himself in Twilight Town anymore. It wasn't until later, when they were back in the gummi ship, that Roxas seemed to forget about Axel for a while, and that was because he drifted into an uneasy sleep in the back of Sora's mind, obviously troubled but unwilling to deal with it just then. Sora let him sleep.

"Was that you or Roxas earlier?" Riku asked. "Usually I can tell, but..."

"It was me," Sora said. "But I was speaking for both of us, I guess. Riku, Axel was Roxas' best friend. His only friend, I guess. I don't know how to comfort him. I keep thinking, what if it were you or Kairi that had died? I don't know what I would have _done._ And Roxas has to deal with that every day. And- it isn't his fault that Axel died, but I'm not sure he _knows _that."

"It's only been a few months," Kairi said. "I'm sure he'll feel better if you give more time."

Sora sighed. _Waiting. _He hated waiting. But there was nothing else to do, he guessed.

They visited Belle and the Beast next. That was an overnight trip. It was dark when they got there, and they were treated to a feast. Sora was starving- it had taken _hours_ to get to the Enchanted Castle from Twilight Town- and he dug in right away, not paying much attention to what anyone was saying. It was all small talk anyway, and Sora usually liked small talk, but not when he was hungry.

At night, Sora and Kairi snuck out of their room and found Riku.

It was the first time they'd been assured privacy in a place that wasn't a cave or the tiny cramped gummi ship. Sora had been carrying a couple of condoms around just in case, and apparently Riku had, too.

It was awkward. None of them were quite sure what to do, and Sora finished too quickly, and Riku wasn't far behind, and neither he nor Riku managed to get Kairi off until she guided their hands down and told them exactly what to do. Even then, she was doing more of the work than they were, and Sora paid close attention to what she was doing, and what she was directing him and Riku to do, so that he could do it better, next time.

He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to make both of them happy. Not that any of them were exactly _unhappy,_ after- Sora would have been _so embarrassed_ if he'd been _that_ bad- but, well, there was a lot of room for improvement.

They slept all in the same bed, because the beds at the castle were big enough for that. Sora drifted to sleep slowly, feeling satisfied and warm and loved despite Kairi's knees jammed against him. He hoped some of that bled through to Roxas, even when they were both asleep. Roxas could use some of that feeling.

Next in the trip was Neverland. Kairi had never been, and so she'd never had a chance to fly. They met up with Peter and the Lost Boys for a while, but they couldn't stay to chat- they were engaged in battle with Captain Hook. Sora thought he'd defeated Hook for good last time, but then again, this was Neverland, and it didn't really change. And maybe Neverland wouldn't even be any fun without Hook to beat. They helped out with the battle, and once it was won, they moved on.

Roxas was still moody. Sora wasn't sure what to do about that. But it seemed to help, visiting places. Sometimes Roxas would say, quietly, to Sora or sometimes to Riku and Kairi too, that he'd been here with Axel on missions for the Organization, or that he'd once spent half a day _here_ just relaxing, all by himself. There was nostalgia in his voice and thoughts, and a lot less pain than even a day or two ago. And Sora listened with fascination as Roxas sketched out a rough picture of his life before he'd been a part of Sora.

It was weird to think of Roxas as ever having been separate_._ Sora hadn't known about Roxas when they were different people. Sora had spent most of the time Roxas wasn't a part of him sleeping. They'd never even properly met until everything was over. So it was strange, thinking about Roxas walking around on his own, alone. But then, it was weird to think of the time before Roxas had become part of him at all- strange to think that he'd been all alone in his own head, no one there to provide commentary and an alternative viewpoint and sometimes insight into what Sora was feeling when Sora himself wasn't sure.

Sora didn't mind Roxas being a part of him. More than that- he _liked_ Roxas being there. And he knew Roxas felt the same- he could feel that, sometimes, when they talked, though the feeling was vague and hard to define.

In any case, Sora wanted Roxas to be happy, and he was glad that Roxas seemed to be recovering, a little.

There were only so many worlds that they could squeeze into one vacation. After a week and a half away, it was time to go home. They arrived late at night, much later than they'd intended. It was nearly dawn. They spent their last hours of freedom docking the Gummi ship and then went to the Secret Place. It was a hot, sticky night on the islands, and the cool cave was welcome relief as the sun began to beat down, especially after the hard work of tying the Gummi ship up.

Sora collapsed onto the stone floor of the cave, totally ignoring the beaten-up couch. The floor was cooler. Riku and Kairi sat near him, not sprawled as he was, but leaning against the walls of the cave. Kairi leaned over him to give him a quick upside-down kiss, and Sora smiled against her lips before kissing her back.

Their tiredness was quickly forgotten as they kissed more, Riku joining in a little later. He'd done a lot of the work tying the Gummi ship to the docks, and was obviously pretty worn out by it.

Roxas didn't actively participate in the kissing, but he basked in the back of Sora's mind like a cat in a sunbeam, obviously enjoying that Sora was enjoying it, if nothing else.

One thing led to another, and they used the last of their condoms that morning. They were all a little better at it than the last time, though still not great. They needed practice, Sora guessed. He wasn't going to complain about that.

They washed up by swimming in the ocean, and then rowed back to the main island. The sun was fully up by then, and they split ways not long after reaching it.

"I'll see you guys later," Sora said.

Kairi and Riku smiled at him, both a little stupid-happy. Sora guessed his expression looked the same. "Yeah," Riku said. Kairi echoed him.

Sora's mom was in the kitchen when he and Roxas got home.

"Welcome home! Did you have fun?" she asked, as he took off his shoes at the door.

"We did," Roxas told her, with a big, genuine smile.

And Sora was glad.

* * *

Sex with Kairi would have been a lot easier if there had been more than one drug store in town. There was nowhere else to buy condoms, and none of them were willing to go while Tidus or Selphie manned the checkout. Which meant skipping school, and all of them had done more than enough of that to last a lifetime.

The consequence of this was that, for a while, Riku, Roxas and Sora had sex together a lot more often than they did with Kairi. After all, none of them had ever had sex with anyone else, so it wasn't like they had to worry about diseases- just pregnancy.

And _that_ was a huge problem, because it turned out that Kairi was way more insatiable than either of them, and she was _not_ okay with sticking to fingers and tongues.

The solution, eventually, was to pilfer condoms from Sora's mom and dad. Which was mentally scarring enough. Sora had never wanted to think about his parents having a sex life. But then Sora's mom had _noticed_ that the condoms were going missing.

"I'm glad you're being safe," she said. "But you and Kairi really aren't old enough to be making decisions like this. You're barely sixteen. What if the condom fails? She could get pregnant. You could end up with a baby, and the two of you are too young to deal with that."

"The three of us," Sora said.

Sora's mother's brow furrowed. "Pardon?""The _three_ of us aren't old enough," Sora said. Better to get all the awkwardness out at once. "Me, Kairi, and Riku. The three of us aren't old enough for a baby. Don't worry. We all know that."

Actually, he thought, it was more like the four of them. But that was a bit more than Sora felt like explaining at the moment.

Sora's mother looked like she'd swallowed a lemon."We're being really careful," Sora said, as if that were the first problem in his mom's mind. "With. You know. Condoms and things. Um."

This did not seem to appease her, not even a little bit.

"This is not acceptable," she said.

"Why?"

It wasn't that Sora didn't realize that this was outside the norm. He was aware that couples usually came in- well, couples. But it wasn't like they were hurting anyone. It wasn't like they were doing anything _wrong_.

There was a moment when Sora's mother stared at him as if she didn't even know him, like it was the first moment when he'd come back, before she'd remembered, abruptly, that she had a son.

It hurt. But Sora didn't let the hurt show.

"You're not ready to make choices like this," she said, retreating into her previous argument. "I don't want you seeing either of them again."

Sora hadn't expected that.

"But mom-"

"Don't 'but mom' me. This is wrong, and you will _do as you are told._"

Sora's mouth opened. It closed. He felt a sense of dread falling over him, and he couldn't move. He couldn't protest. He hadn't exactly expected this to go well, but he hadn't anticipated it going so horribly wrong, either.

And then Roxas said: "There are worlds out there that are a lot more accepting, you know."

Sora's mother's eye's narrowed. "What does that mean?"

"It means that we still have a gummi ship hidden away," Roxas said, giving Sora's mother a glare that Sora wasn't entirely comfortable with. "We can go to any world we want. You can't keep us here. There isn't a lock that would hold us. You know that."

Sora had told his mother some things about their adventures, though not nearly everything. She knew about the keyblade. She knew about the gummi ship. She knew that he'd made friends everywhere. He'd babbled it all out in a confused rush when he'd come back, on the first day.

He had never meant to use any of it as a threat. He'd never meant to see her face go ashen.

Some petty, angry part of him- the part he usually pretended belonged wholly to Roxas- was glad that Roxas had done it for him, so he didn't have to.

He hadn't journeyed across dozens of worlds only to be separated from his boyfriend and girlfriend by his _mother__._

"Fine," she said, words choked out a little. "Just-"

The rest of that sentence was lost in a sob, and Sora winced a little, internally. Roxas, however, kept their face from flinching.

"They're my best friends," he said. "No- they're a lot more than that. They're too important to lose. You've got to understand that."

Sora's mother turned, and walked out of the room.

Sora had known she couldn't understand. He was just glad he hadn't tried to explain Roxas at the same time. That would have been an even worse disaster.

Roxas got them as far as their room before giving control back to Sora, who promptly collapsed on the bed.

"That could have gone better," Sora said into his pillow.

_You won't be separated,_ Roxas said. _I couldn't make her _happy_ about it._

_Thank you,_ Sora said.

Then he rolled over and went to sleep, for all that it was barely 5 PM.

He woke up curled up next to Riku and Kairi on Riku's couch, and smiled.

_Thank you,_ he said again.

"My mom knows about us," he muttered sleepily.

"Roxas told us," Kairi said, her fingertips dancing lightly through his hair. "It sounds like you had a rough day."

Sora stood up, stretched and yawned. "Yeah. What time is it?"

"Ten," Kairi said. "But don't worry, we've been working on homework with Roxas. You don't have anything left to do."

"Did I eat?" Sora asked, stomach rumbling a little.

The absurdity of the question might once have made him laugh. But he was sharing a life and a boyfriend and things like this no longer had the power to faze him.

Kairi giggled. Apparently she was not as immune to the absurdity yet as Sora was.

"There's more food in the fridge," Riku said.

_Pig, _Roxas added fondly. _You're going to make us fat._

Ignoring him, Sora stuffed his face with leftovers.

Things were alright for now.

* * *

**A/N**: My apologies for taking so long with this chapter. One chapter left (and possibly an epilogue depending on how complete I feel the story is after the next chapter is completed). Thanks, as always, to my beta, british_spy on lj. Any remaining mistakes are my own.


	4. Man's not dead

**How Everyone Started Sleeping Together****  
Chapter 4: Man's not dead while his name's still spoken**

Sora found out that Axel was back- and _alive-_ when he woke up some time late in the morning to find himself pinned to his bed with Axel making out with him and Roxas moaning. Both of them were shirtless.

_ Ahem,_ he said, and wondered if Roxas was going to make a _habit_ of making out with guys while Sora was sleeping. Hadn't once been enough?

Roxas' only response was to moan again, and to kiss harder. Axel moaned, too, and this was all just a bit too much for Sora to take.

Sora took over and pulled back.

"Um," he said.

Roxas buzzed angrily in the back of his head, like some sort of sexually frustrated bee.

Axel looked confused. "What's the matter, Roxas?"

"Er- Sora, actually," Sora said.

Axel's eyebrows shot up to at least an inch. "Oh," he said. He rolled off of Sora, which made it a lot easier to breathe but was also kind of a mixed blessing because Roxas' annoyed buzzing got a lot louder and at least one part of Sora's anatomy was in full agreement with him.

"So," Sora said, cursing his hormonal alter ego. "You're alive."  
Axel grinned.

"And you- and Roxas- is this a _new_ thing, or..."

_He's Axel,_ Roxas said, as though that were enough of an answer on its own. And with the warm wash of affection that leaked over to Sora's side of their heart, it sort of was.

He actually felt a little stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

Axel just grinned again.

_Can I have the body back now? _Roxas asked.

"No," Sora said.

"Huh?"

"Sorry- I wasn't talking to you," Sora said.

Axel was not wearing a shirt, and he was still really close, and Sora was suddenly very, very aware of this fact. He got off the bed, found his own shirt lying on the ground, and said: "I'm late for school, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Axel said, not seeming very concerned. "But don't worry. I called you in sick."

Sora wasn't sure if that was actually considerate or not. "Uh- Riku and Kairi will still worry about me. I'd better go."

Axel grabbed his wrist. "Do you have to?"

Roxas was fighting for control of the body, but Sora had had enough of this. "Yeah, I really do. You and Roxas can hang out later. Uh. Glad to see you're alive."

He took a cold shower first. That was a necessity. And then he ran to school, in time for lunch although not for any of his morning classes.

"Where were you?" Riku asked, and Sora just collapsed onto the table.

_Being accosted in my bed_, he would have said, but Roxas took over before he had a chance.

"Axel is back."

He said it a lot more warmly than Sora would have. Because, yeah, Axel had sacrificed himself at the end, but he'd also kidnapped Kairi and done a lot of _bad_ things.

"He is?" Kairi said. "That's... good news. Right?"

She smiled, but it was lukewarm. Sora made an effort to take control of his body, but Roxas was holding a little too tightly to the reins for it to be easy.

"It's great," Roxas said. He grinned.

"So... how is he alive, then?" Riku asked. "I mean last you told us, he was toast. Burned up. Dead."

Roxas shrugged. "He doesn't know, either. He just woke up, alive and well. And with a heart."

"Huh," Riku said. He looked suspicious. Sora thought he was probably right to be. Hearts didn't just _come back._ Not in his experience, anyway. If it were that easy, Organization XIII wouldn't have existed. Besides, Axel was supposed to be dead. How was he back?

Normally Sora wouldn't worry about this kind of stuff. Or, at least, before he'd gotten home again, he wouldn't have worried about this kind of stuff. Trying to save all the known worlds had a way of straightening out your priorities. But now, at home, with nothing bigger to worry about, it seemed really important to know.

Even more pressing, though, was another issue.

_Roxas?_ Sora said, during Chemistry, which was boring today. _I just wanted you to know- it was really... uncomfortable... for me, when you were making out with Axel while I was sleeping._

_Oh, _said Roxas. _God, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry._

_ Just- _Sora paused. _It's your body, too. I mean, I don't want to forbid you to do things with it. But- warn me, next time?_

_ Yeah,_ Roxas said. _Sorry. I wasn't thinking._

Then there was another pause.

_ What about sex?_ Roxas asked.

_ Huh?_

_ I mean, of course I'll warn you first. No surprises this time._

_ Oh. Um. Yeah. Just- what did you have in mind?_

Roxas told Sora. In great detail and with no apparent shame. It wasn't anything Sora hadn't been planning on himself, eventually. It was just- he'd been planning on it _eventually. _Not yet. He and Riku and Kairi weren't exactly taking things slow, but the way Sora thought of it, they had a lot of basics to master before they tried... other things.

_ Um. Can you wait until I've tried some of that stuff myself?_ Sora asked. _I mean, you've already done things with Axel, right?_

_ Yeah, we can hold off. I'll explain things to Axel. He'll understand__._

Sora sighed in relief, earning him weird looks from Wakka and Selphie. He was pretty sure he was earning a reputation as really strange at school, between the dating-two-people thing and the staring-into-space-while-he-and-Roxas-talked thing, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

* * *

"Sora!"

Roxas turned. He and Sora were making the trip to the beach after school. Axel was staying on the play island for now, since he had no money for a hotel and no one had extra space to put him up, even if any of them had been able to explain to their parents who Axel was or why he was there. Sora had offered him some munny- he had plenty- but Axel had refused.

"Not at the moment," Roxas said.

"Sorry, Roxas," Riku said, amiably. "I just wanted to let you guys know that Kairi invited us over for dinner tonight. Her dad is out of town and we're going to make spaghetti and watch old horror films. It'll be great. You coming?"

"Is Axel invited?"

Riku looked a little uncomfortable. "I guess."

"He's a good person," Roxas said. "He sacrificed himself to save Sora, remember? I mean, he did some bad things for the Organization, but that was before he had his heart back. You'll see."

He was so utterly earnest that Sora hoped it was true, just to make Roxas happy.

"Maybe you're right," Riku said. "I mean, it can't hurt to give him a chance, right?"

Roxas broke out into a huge smile. "Thanks."

"But - doesn't this change everything? I thought you and Axel-"

"Yeah," Roxas said. He paused. "About that-"

"I don't want to get in your way," Riku said.

Roxas' mouth fell open a little.

Sora felt sick, like he was the one being broken up with. Logically, he wasn't. Logically, Roxas _would_ want to be with Axel more. It still stung a little.

"It's going to be hard for you," Riku said. "I mean- he's been dead, and you've mourned him, and now he's back. I don't think it's going to be easy to get back in the swing of things. I would just make it harder. So I'll spare you the pain of breaking up with me. I'll do it first."

"Let's call it mutual," Roxas said, a little quietly. "I mean- I like you, you're a good friend- but it's always been pretty obvious that Sora and Kairi and you belong together, and I'm just... extra."

"That's not true," Riku said, looking legitimately angry for the first time in the conversation. "I mean, the two of us- we were different. It was more... physical. That doesn't mean it didn't ever count. It was still real."

"Real," Roxas echoed bitterly. Sora knew he had problems with that word.

Then he shook his head. "Thank you," he said, after a moment. "For everything."

"Friends?" Riku asked. "I don't want this to be awkward. I mean, I'm not breaking up with Sora, so we're still going to be hanging out."

"Friends," Roxas said. "But I'm still dragging Axel over to your spaghetti party."  
Riku's smile was lukewarm at best. "Great," he said.  
Sora shared Riku's concern. But he didn't say anything. Roxas had just gotten Axel back. It wasn't the right time to get upset that Axel had done bad things. They should all be happy for Roxas. And while Sora _was_ happy for Roxas, he was concerned, too.

Sometimes, Sora dreamed Roxas' memories. It was a two-way street- Roxas had complained about Sora's memories before. And while dreams weren't enough to grasp the full picture of what had happened between Roxas and Axel while Sora had been out of the picture, it was enough to know that Axel had betrayed Roxas at least once. Tried to kill him for the Organization. Sora was all for forgiveness- Axel _had_ sacrificed himself, or, well, tried to, to save Sora- but that didn't mean they shouldn't be careful. Axel hadn't been possessed or anything when he'd betrayed Roxas, as far as Sora knew. He'd made his choices all on his own. And that meant that he could do it again.

Then he shook his head. 'Again?' They'd saved the worlds. There wasn't going to be an 'again.' The Organization was gone. Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody were gone. Everything was safe now. Axel didn't have any reason to betray Roxas. The worst Axel could do now was to break Roxas' heart. Metaphorically, that was. And now that Axel had a heart of his own, maybe it wouldn't come to that.

Sora still couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something really important. But he couldn't think what it was, so he let it go for now.

Axel showed up to dinner late, and wearing his Organization coat. Sora already had a bad feeling about this night, and seeing him in that outfit made it worse.

"Roxas," Axel said, totally ignoring the others. "Looking good."

Roxas shoved Sora to the back of their mind with more force than was strictly necessary.

"Axel," he said, putting more feeling into that word than most people did into entire paragraphs of talking.

They kissed. Like Riku, Axel had to stoop over to kiss Roxas. He kissed Roxas tenderly, biting gently at his lower lip.

This wasn't for Sora. This wasn't meant to be shared. But Sora was there anyway. If kissing Riku had once been like Roxas and Sora were the same person, kissing Axel was exactly the opposite. There was a small amount of bleed-through- Sora could tell Roxas was really, really happy- but it was easy to separate out his own feelings from Roxas'. He didn't like Axel. At least, he didn't like him the same way he liked Riku and Kairi.

Was that even possible? 'You feel what I feel,' Roxas had said, once before. Was that not true? Had it been a coincidence, that Roxas and Sora both liked Riku? After all, Roxas had never cared about Kairi the same way that Sora did. He liked her, but he wasn't in love with her. In fact, he'd said he didn't like girls at all.

Then again, Sora had never really liked anyone other than Riku and Kairi, so maybe he wasn't one to talk. Even after he'd started dating them, he hadn't stopped to think if that made him gay or bi or whatever. Whatever his orientation, it was one that let him love both of them. And that was enough.

He knew this, too: kissing Axel was nothing special. It was just lips. But _Roxas_ kissing Axel was something else entirely. Roxas kissing back, Roxas running his hands through Axel's hair- it wasn't Axel that made this exciting. It was that Roxas was using Sora's body in ways Sora never would on his own. It was the lack of control. It was bizarre, and weird, and Sora wasn't sure what to make of it.

Sora was suddenly glad that he wasn't in control of the body for other reasons- he would probably have a really obvious boner right now, and he'd never be able to explain to anyone _why__._

The kiss went on for way too long, ending only when Riku coughed. Roxas broke it off with a sheepish smile.

"Well," Roxas said, "Um. This is Kairi's house, obviously. We're making spaghetti in the kitchen. We should probably check on that now," he added, almost apologetically. "It might be done now."

So they all moved to the kitchen.

Riku, Sora noticed, was obviously trying really hard not to glare at Axel. He was kind of failing.

Well. That was a boner-killer, at least. Sora hated to see Riku angry. He hated to see anyone angry.

_You need to talk to Riku,_ Sora told Roxas.

_Huh? Oh. Yeah._

"Hey," Roxas said to Riku.

Riku's expression softened a little as his gaze moved to Roxas.

"I need to talk to you," Roxas said, jerking his head toward the hallway. "Come on. It'll just take a minute."

"Okay," Riku said with a carefully casual shrug.

Axel said nothing, but looked between them as though he wasn't sure what was going on. Kairi gently roped him into helping with the spaghetti sauce, and as Roxas and Riku walked down the hall to the living room, Sora could hear her asking "So are you good at chopping onions? I always cry..."

"I'm sorry," Riku said, as soon as they were out of earshot of the others. "I'm really trying to be nice, but it's hard."

"You're jealous," Sora observed.

Roxas started at that. Had he really not noticed?

"I don't mind sharing Sora with Kairi," Riku said. "Because- well, I'm sharing him with _Kairi_, and we're not so much a couple as we are a... a..."

"A trio?" Roxas suggested. "A trinity?"

"Something like that, anyway. It's hard, though, seeing you kiss Axel. Even if it's not Sora doing it, it still _looks_ like him."

"It's not me," Sora said. "It's Roxas. You're just going to have to get better at making that distinction, I guess. And just keep remembering, I guess, that love isn't in limited supply here? I mean, even if I _were_ kissing Axel, that wouldn't mean that I loved you any less."

This did seem to cheer Riku up somewhat. They went back to the kitchen in good spirits, in time to help with the rest of the meal. Axel gave Roxas a curious look when they walked back in, but didn't say anything.

Riku did a better job of not glaring at Axel during the meal, even when Axel kissed a bit of spaghetti sauce off the corner of Roxas' mouth. Sora wondered if Axel had ever had a chance to be openly affectionate with Roxas before. He couldn't see the Organization being really okay with romance between its members. He could imagine kisses stolen in passing, nights hidden in each other's rooms- but nothing open.

Sora, who kissed Kairi and Riku whenever he pleased- even in school, even if teachers scolded him, even if it made people give him strange looks and call him weird- felt kind of bad for them. Hiding was always hard. Love was meant to be out in the open.

But everything was okay now. Sure, they weren't together the whole day like Sora and Riku and Kairi were, but they could see each other after school, and on weekends, and no one that mattered really disapproved, even if Sora and Riku were still a little wary of Axel.

Eventually, after they'd washed up, Roxas said, "I think I'm going to head home now. You guys mind?"

"No problem," Kairi said with a smile.

"I'd better head out, too, then," Axel said, looking a little uncomfortable at the idea of hanging out with Kairi and Riku without Roxas as a buffer.

They left, stepping out into the humid, warm air of the islands.

"It's a little weird," Axel said. "I know they're Sora's friends, and you're sharing a body with him, but it's a little strange to hang out with them."

"They're my friends, too," Roxas said. "Though- they're not just Sora's _friends._"

Axel raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"They're his boyfriend and girlfriend," Roxas said.

"Huh," Axel said. "I guess... that kind of makes sense? Like, I wouldn't have guessed, but now that you say so, I'm not surprised."

"Yeah," Roxas said. "I wouldn't have expected it to work, but it seems to be. Sora is really happy." As an aside, almost speaking to Sora, he added, "it's sometimes _really annoying_ how happy he is."

Axel laughed. Then he grew more serious. "How does that work out with you? I mean, if you're in the same body as Sora..."

"We take turns with the body," Roxas said. "He does what he wants with it when I'm sleeping. And mostly vice-versa, though Sora wants me to wait on some things for a while. He's practically a virgin, still."

Sora wanted to protest. He wasn't a virgin. But then, there was a lot he hadn't done, and he knew Roxas hadn't meant it as an insult, this time.

Axel nodded.

They arrived at Sora's house. The lights were all off. It wasn't that late- Sora's dad was probably still working, like usual, and his mom had apparently stepped out. They took off their shoes at the door, and walked up to Sora's room.

"I love you," Roxas said. "You know that, right?"  
Axel smiled, then. "Good. I love you too, you know. Even more, now that I have a heart to feel it with."  
Roxas nodded. And then his grin turned wicked. "I have an idea," he said.  
_ You might want to take a nap_, he told Sora, internally. _Unless you feel like being a voyeur. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything you haven't done with Riku._

This whole conversation had felt a little bit like eavesdropping, and also Sora had a pretty good idea what was about to happen. So he just said, _wake me up when you guys are done having your fun_, and did his best to fade to the back of their mind.

The last thing that happened before he drifted off was Roxas unbuckling the belt on Axel's pants, saying, "I learned a lot more from Sora than you might think..."

He woke up only a minute later.

_"SORA._ WHAT ON _EARTH_ ARE YOU DOING?!"

Considering Roxas' mouth was still sucking on Axel's cock, Sora thought that question was probably rhetorical.

Roxas removed himself from Axel and turned to face Sora's mother. He wiped off his mouth.

"Um," he said. "Hi?"

And then he abandoned Sora to face his mother's wrath without him. The coward.

Sora had never seen his mother so furious. She turned on Axel. "Out," she said.

Axel zipped up his pants, not at all fazed. "See you later," he said, nodding in Sora's direction. And then Sora was left to face his mother entirely alone.

It really wasn't fair. It wasn't like _he'd_ been the one giving his boyfriend a blow job in his room. This time, anyway.

"I can't believe you," his mother said, practically hissing. "I was just starting to accept that you were dating two people- I wasn't okay with it, but I was thinking about it- and now... this."

Sora wasn't sure what to say.

"Who is he?" she asked. "Do you even _know_ him?"

"Of course I do," Sora said. "He's Axel. I met him while I was gone. We're- er- good friends. I wouldn't- you know. With just anyone."

Sora's mother looked pained. "You aren't a very convincing liar. And even if you know him well- it's one thing to date Riku, or Kairi. They're at least the same age as you. How old is this Axel?"

Sora had no idea. He just set his jaw and tried to stare her down. This worked about as well as he expected, which was to say not at all.

Roxas finally took control. "He's older," he admitted.

"Can you give me a number?" Sora's mom asked. "A rough estimate? Or do you not even know him that well?"

"He's twenty-six," Roxas said, finally.

Sora's mom pursed her lips. "And you don't think that's a little old for you? You don't think that he might be taking advantage of you?"

"He tried to sacrifice his life for me," Roxas said, softly. "I wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for him. He's not the kind of person who would take advantage of someone else. If anything, it started out the other way around."  
Sora's mom still didn't seem comforted. Sora thought that the chances of her accepting Axel were about as likely as Xehanort renouncing darkness and taking up polka dancing.

"I can't lock you up or ground you," she said. "You've made that much clear. But I'm not happy, Sora. I thought you were better than this. I want to support you, but I can't support what you're doing."

She took a breath. "I can't control you. But I can control what happens under my roof. And if I catch any more of this sort of thing here, you won't be welcome to stay here anymore. You said you have other places to go, where people would accept you. Maybe it would be better if you went to one of those other places."

Sora felt like his heart had dropped to the bottom of his stomach.

"You don't mean that," he said.

Her expression didn't change at all. "I do. The son I had was an innocent young boy. He was sweet, and respectful, and he didn't- he didn't know how to be cruel. You aren't that boy. And unless you can show me that you still are, I don't know what to do with you."

"Well-" Sora said, and then stopped because he couldn't trust himself to say anything else to say.

"Maybe you didn't know me as well as you thought you did," Roxas supplied.

Sora wasn't sure if that made things better or worse. Certainly it made his mother look like she was about to cry. Part of him felt bad about that. But mostly, he just felt glad. She was being completely unreasonable, and she _deserved_ to feel bad about it.

He wondered how much of that was him, and how much of it was Roxas. But he found that he just didn't care.

He couldn't be who she wanted him to be. She wanted him to be a kid, when he'd saved the worlds twice. You didn't come back from that the same. In his case, he'd come back as two people, and neither of them were really kids anymore.

Maybe he should be somewhere else. He didn't belong here anymore.

He started packing up his bags without another word.

"What are you doing?" his mother asked shrilly.

"What you told me to," he said. "Leaving."

He could stay at Riku's house. Riku's parents didn't suspect a thing about his and Sora's relationship, mostly because they were gone all the time. Sora could stay there for days before they even realized he was there. And when they did, he could move on. To the Secret Place, or to the Gummi Ship. It wasn't like he hadn't spent days and days on the Gummi ship before, after all. And school was only for another couple of months, and then it would be summer and he could go somewhere else.

"Just like that?" his mother asked. "You're just leaving?"

Sora looked up at her, confused. "You just said to."

"I meant if you didn't fix your behavior," she said. "Not right now."

"There's nothing in my behavior to fix," Sora said, setting his jaw.

They stood there for a moment, eyes locked together. And then Sora's mom did cry, and Sora watched helplessly, not even really angry any more. Just- confused.  
After a moment, she said: "Stay." And then she seemed too choked up to continue.

"I love you," she added, after another moment.

Sora didn't know what to say, so he just stood there, silent.

She hugged him then, and he stood stiffly, not returning it. The past few minutes had been a rollercoaster, and he wasn't sure what he felt about his mother.

"You're so stubborn," she said, into his shoulder, still hugging him too tightly. "You've always been too stubborn. Someday it's going to get you in trouble."

Sora thought of years searching for his friends, of battle after battle after battle. It would have been less trouble to give up. But the worlds would all have sunk into darkness if he did.

"Yeah," he said, after a moment. "But I wouldn't be me if I ever gave up."

She let go of him, finally. "Date whoever you want," she said. "I can't stop you. But- bring them home first. Let me meet them. I can't promise that I won't get upset at you again, or that I'll approve. But let me meet them before I walk in on- that."

Tentative, Sora said, "Okay."

Sora's mom smiled through the tears.

And so it came to pass that Sora invited Axel, Riku, and Kairi to dinner that weekend. Sora wasn't sure how it was going to work out.

Axel was first to arrive, so Roxas took over for a while.

"Axel!" he said. He turned to Sora's mom.

"Pleased to meet you. Again," Sora's mom said, with a frown.

Axel had the grace to look sheepish. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Well, don't just stand in the doorway," Sora's mom said. "Come on in."

Axel took his shoes off at the door, and took Roxas' hand.

Roxas froze, smile still plastered on his face. Sora sort of understood why; Axel and Roxas weren't affectionate the same way that Sora and Riku and Kairi were. They kissed, sure, but they were never the gentle kinds of kisses. They were hungry, as though Roxas and Axel were sure they would be forcibly separated. The hand-holding thing had probably never happened before.

Sora's mom seemed to approve of the gesture, though. Her lips curved into a soft smile.

Maybe that was the whole point?

A moment later, Riku and Kairi showed up, and Sora took control back.

"Hi, guys!"

Riku smiled, and Kairi beamed.

Then they both caught sight of Axel. Sora watched them closely, sure that this was going to be a disaster.

Their smiles didn't seem to be forced, though. Kairi just beamed wider. "Hello!"

Axel shot her a grin.

As soon as their shoes were off, Kairi tackled Sora and gave him an enthusiastic hug. Sora hugged her back with his free arm- Axel still had hold of his other hand. Riku seemed a little too embarrassed to follow suit, probably because Sora's mom was right there.

"It's good to see you two," Sora's mom said, a little more warmly than she'd greeted Axel. "How have you been? Is school going well?"

So Riku and Kairi talked a little about their latest chemistry test, which had been really difficult for Sora even with Roxas' help, and had been even harder for everyone else, since they didn't have anyone to help them out.

Everyone seemed to be getting along well, which was a relief. But someone was missing.

"Where's dad?" Sora asked. "Wasn't he supposed to be here tonight?"

"He had to go to work suddenly," Sora's mom said. "You know how it is."

"On a Saturday?"

She shrugged apologetically. Then she smiled brightly- her best hostess smile, which Sora had seen her pull out a few times before during parties and dinners. "Well, let's eat, since everyone is here!"

Sora and the others sat around the table. It was a small table, more of a breakfast nook than a real table, and they had to crowd around it. Sora found himself squashed between Riku and Axel, Kairi sitting serenely on the other side of the table on her own.

Sora was kind of glad. It meant that his mother wouldn't be sitting next to him. Kairi would handle her better.

Maybe, if he were lucky, they would get out of this without anything seriously awkward happening.

Sora's mom brought out the plates of food. For the next few moments, they all busied themselves serving up and trying the food.

"This is really good," Riku said, after trying a few bites.

It was. Sora and Roxas were having a little internal scuffle about who got to control their mouth while they ate, and the strange faces they were making as they did were apparently obvious enough that Kairi let out a giggle.

"Chew with your mouth closed, dear," Sora's mom said.

Sora made another face, but then let Roxas do the eating. It wasn't worth looking like an idiot when he got to taste it either way.  
After a little while eating, Sora's mom smiled brightly at them all again. "So," she said, "Sora has never explained to me how all of this happened. How did all of you end up together?"

Everyone looked at Sora.

"Um," he said.

There was a long, painful silence while he tried to work out a version of the story that didn't involve Roxas.

Riku interrupted, luckily. "Sora and I walk to school together every day. So one day, he's really quiet. I asked him why, and he said he was thinking. Well, the next day the same thing happened. And the day after that, same thing. So on the fourth day, I don't accept that as an answer. I refuse to keep walking until he tells me what's wrong. And then he gets this completely panicked look on his face, pulls me down to his height, and kisses me. It took me completely by surprise, because I never thought he felt that way about me."

"That," Roxas said, "is because you are oblivious. Which is no fault of mine."

Riku frowned at him. "Whatever."

"Anyway," Roxas added, "we didn't really tell anyone we were dating right away, and the next week, Kairi asked me out. And I was really confused, but it turned out that Riku and Kairi both liked each other, too. So... you know. It just made sense for all of us to date, because otherwise someone would be left out."

Sora's mother's lips went a little thin. But she didn't voice her opinions right then, saying only: "And what about you, Axel?"

"I was dating Axel first, actually," Roxas said. "But we were separated. I didn't think we'd get to see each other again."

"But how did you meet in the first place?" Sora's mother asked, unwilling to be put off the subject. "It's not like you met at school or anything."

"Well, I can tell you my side of the story," Axel said.  
Sora tensed up.

"So," Axel says. "This was about two years ago. Ro- Sora shows up in a world called Twilight Town, with no memories at all. As a kind, gentle soul-"

(Roxas was not in control anymore, or he would have let out an indelicate snort)

"- I decided to take him under my wing and-"  
"Sora lost his memories?" Sora's mom asked, suddenly alarmed. "Sora, you never told me about this."

There was another one of those long pauses.

"I may have left out some of the details of my adventures," Sora said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly and cursing Axel in his head loudly enough to annoy Roxas.

"It's sort of my fault," Kairi said. "He lost his heart trying to rescue me. It took a while to put him back together again. But we managed."

Sora's mom blinked.

"Anyway," Axel said, clearly excited to get back to his mangled Roxas-free story of how he and Roxas had met. "We were both part of this organization to get back our hearts. Which was more difficult than it sounds. And we grew closer and closer, and then one day the midget decides to up and kiss me. And after that, well- things just sort of happened."

"The organization you were a part of," Sora's mom said. "That's not the same one that Sora ended up fighting? The one that nearly killed him and Riku?"

Axel's mouth opened. Axel's mouth shut. "Uh," he said. "Yeah, that happened too. But that was later, after R- Sora had left. They were kind of pissed off about that. The leaving."

"You didn't leave, though?" Sora's mom asked, eyes like lasers.

"Not right away," Axel said. "I was dumb. And I thought that Rox...Sora, wouldn't be the same person, once he had his heart back. So it took me too long to follow him. I mean, I did. But... I should have done it sooner."

"And then you saved him," Sora's mom said, clearly trying to put all the pieces together.

"Yeah," Axel said. "There was a huge swarm of Nobodies after him. So I just used up all the power I had left. Killed me, but it was worth it."

Yet another silence.

"You don't look dead," Sora's mom pointed out.

"I got better," Axel said, and then took a large bite of food. With his mouth full of food, he continued. "Woke up in my old home world with a nasty headache and my heart back where it belonged. Also some memories that I guess came from my Heartless, though those are really fuzzy."

Of course Axel had had a Heartless. Sora had never thought about it before, but it only made sense.

"What kind of heartless did you have?" Sora asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Just a Shadow," Axel said. "Guess I didn't have all that much darkness to start with. Just like you, Sora." He gave Sora a weird grin. Riku scowled, and Sora frowned at him. Riku was still a little too touchy about darkness, even though he said he'd accepted that his own darkness was a part of him.  
Sora's mom looked back and forth between all of them, confused.

"So you woke up as a regular person," Kairi said, suddenly looking worried. "After your Nobody was killed. And your Heartless, too, I suppose. I'd never thought about it before, but does that mean that... others... could come back, too?"

Sora was confused for a moment. Then he understood what she was saying.

"Xehanort," Roxas said, before Sora got a chance. "He could come back, too."

"Who is Xehanort?" Sora's mom asked.

"The one who put the universe in danger, twice," Riku said. "If he's back, we have to stop him." He grimaced. "I told you guys this peace wouldn't last."

"Well, let's finish dinner before we go gallivanting off to save the world," Axel said, taking another huge bite.

"Who said you were coming?" Riku asked. "You don't even have a keyblade. You'll just get in the way."

And yeah, this was exactly what Sora had been afraid was going to happen.

"I still have my chakrums," Axel said, a dangerous edge in his voice. "And you aren't leaving without me. Roxas wouldn't let you. Where he goes, I go."

"You keep calling Sora that," Sora's mom said. "Would someone please tell me what on Earth is going on?"

Riku and Axel both settled back down in their seats, though their glares didn't quite subside.

Sora thought about trying to explain, but Roxas kept their mouth pressed tightly shut.

"Can I tell her?" Kairi asked Sora. Or maybe she was really asking Roxas. Roxas stared at her for a minute, and then nodded jerkily.  
Kairi gave him a reassuring smile.

"When I said Sora lost his heart," Kairi said softly to Sora's mother, "that was... technically true. But it's more complicated than that. It's more like Sora was split in two. One half had his heart and his memories, and the other half had his body and willpower. That's when Roxas was created. Riku helped to bring the two of them back together again, but by then... it was a year later. They weren't the same person anymore. They'd both had too many different experiences. So now, they share a body and a heart, but they're still separate people."

Sora's mom looked at Sora. "Is this true?"

Roxas nodded.

"And can... can Roxas hear me right now?"

Roxas nodded again, not bothering to hide his distrust. "Yeah, I can."

"Oh," she said. "Have we spoken before?"

"Yeah," he said. "A couple of times."

"Oh," she said again. "I think- I need a moment. Excuse me."

She walked out of the kitchen.

"That could have gone worse," Axel said cheerily.

"It could have gone better," Riku countered. "If you'd just kept your mouth shut."

"Would you guys just knock it off?" Roxas said. "Both of you, just... try to get along."

They both looked ready to argue, so Sora said: "I second that. We have more important things to worry about right now."

That shut both of them up.

"Look," Roxas said. "If Xehanort _is_ back- and I really hope he isn't- we need to be prepared. We need to train hard. And we need to let the King know, so that he can help us track Xehanort down. If we're careful, and quick, we might be able to defeat him before he causes any real trouble. After all, we've beaten his Nobody, and Sora beat his Heartless. How much tougher can he be? I mean, we have three keyblade masters plus Axel, now. Uh- four keyblade masters if you count me, I guess. And none of us are pushovers."

"We can do it," Riku agreed, nodding.

"Together," Kairi said. "You aren't going to get away without me. This time, I fight too."

Sora smiled. "We wouldn't dream of it."

They all looked expectantly at Axel. He shrugged. "Well, if Roxas is leaving, I guess I have no choice but to follow you guys, do I?" But his tone was warm.  
Roxas took Axel's hand, and Sora knew that that meant _thank you_.

"We have time to prepare," Kairi said. "We won't be caught by surprise."

"I knew the worlds would need saving again," Riku said, grim satisfaction in his voice. "Didn't I tell you? This was just a temporary break."

Sora nodded. "Well," he said. "I need to go tell my mom what's happening. I think you guys should tell your parents, too," he added. "It's not fair of us to disappear without telling them." _Again_, he didn't add, because they all knew well enough what had happened last time.

"We need to grab all our potions and munny and key chains, too," Kairi said. "I say we all meet at the Gummi ship first thing in the morning. We all need a good night's rest." She glanced over at the doorway Sora's mother had gone through. "Good luck, Sora, Roxas."

With that, they disbursed. Sora went upstairs to his room, and began packing.

His mom needed time. He could give her an hour or two.

He finished packing, sat down on his bed, and waited.

* * *

A/N: Just the epilogue to go! Thank you for sticking with me through another long wait.

Thanks as usual to my beta, british_spy on lj. Any remaining mistakes are my own.


	5. Epilogue

**HESST 05- Epilogue**

* * *

_ You know, _Roxas said, _We'll probably have to do this school year over again. When we get back._

Sora hadn't thought about that.

_What does it matter? _he asked. _It's not like we have a choice._

"There's always a choice," Roxas said, and then, doing his best impression of King Mickey. "Dark and light, good and evil-"

Sora wanted to throw a pillow at him. He settled for throwing himself onto his bed ungracefully. "Some choices really aren't choices at all," he said.

"I know," Roxas said, silly mood suddenly gone.

They were both quiet then, for a minute.

"Do you think," Sora said, all of a sudden, "that if we were separate people, we could ever have become friends?"

"I don't know," Roxas said. "Even now, we're not- we're not _just_ friends. You're my other_._"

It didn't make a lot of sense, out loud like that. But Sora knew what he meant. They'd never been meant to be separate people. In a lot of ways, they still weren't. They shared between them one heart, one body, and one soul. Sora didn't remember most of the time when he and Roxas had been separate- he had Namine to thank for that- but he remembered the feeling of it, and Riku had filled him in, a little, on what he'd pieced together about what Sora had been like. He'd been stupid, impulsive, and led entirely by his heart. Sora liked his heart, but that wasn't all there was to a person. Except, apparently, when the other parts of that person were being used by his alter ego.

Sora liked himself better whole. He liked himself better with Roxas. He knew Roxas felt the same way- surely it had to be better to have a heart than to be a Nobody.

There really wasn't much else to say. So it was lucky that there was a soft knock on the door frame.

Sora had left the door open. He sat up now to find his mom in the doorway, looking as though she had been crying.

Sora hated seeing his mom cry. He felt like he'd probably caused a lot of tears over the past few years. When he'd been missing. When she'd _remembered_ that he was missing, after Namine had restored everyone's memories. When she'd found out that he was dating two people. When she'd found out about Axel. When she'd found out about Roxas.

Sora gave his mom a weak smile. She responded in kind. She took a few hesitant steps into the room, and hugged him.

He'd expected yelling. Every other time he'd made his mom cry, she'd yelled at him.

"You've lied to me over and over again," she said into his shoulder. "Was that you, or Roxas?"

"It was both," he said, quietly. "But- Roxas is part of me. We're part of each other," he corrected himself. "I think- we have to share the fault for things. And the credit, when they work out."

She nodded, her hair brushing against his face gently. "Is Roxas here now?"

"He's always here," Sora said. "Every once in a while, he sleeps when I'm awake. Every once in a while, I sleep when he's awake. It's just- whatever's convenient."

She finally let go of him, breaking the hug.

"Has he been doing your math homework?" she asked, mock-angry.

Sora's mouth fell open. "How-?"

"It was pretty obvious when I thought about it," she said, smiling wanly. "I love you, Sora, but you've never been the most dedicated student. I should have known something was going on when you started getting such good grades in classes you hated."

"Roxas _likes_ math," Sora said. "And iIt's his life, too. Why shouldn't we split our classwork?"

She shook her head. "I think that's a discussion for another day."

Sora nodded.

"You're going away," she said, simply. "Again."

"I have to," Sora said. "The worlds are in danger."

"There's no one else?" she asked. "You're just children."

"We haven't been children for a long time," Roxas said.

She nodded sadly. "I wish you still could be," she said. And then, "when the worlds are all safe, we're going to have a long talk about honesty. You shouldn't feel like you need to lie to me to get your way."

Sora nodded.

"But for now-" she shook her head. "Be safe. Come home when you can. I love you."

"Don't look so worried," Sora said. "I promise I'll come home safe."

She smiled again. "I'll hold you to that."

And Sora knew that wasn't the end of things- was sort of _glad _that wasn't the end of things. It might be a long time before he got to come home again, but he knew that his mom would be waiting for him.

In the meantime, there were things to do.

He had something to say to Riku, too, before they left. Because he hadn't just lied to his mom.

"Riku," he said, the next morning, as they finished packing up the Gummi ship. "I need to tell you something."

Kairi smiled a little, and walked a little distance away to get her privacy. Axel took a little longer to move, but then Kairi came back, dragged him by the arm, and pulled him off to help her carry a box.

"It was Roxas who kissed you first," Sora said, without preamble. "I didn't even realize I liked you like that until later."

Riku did not look terribly surprised, but neither did he look pleased.

"Roxas told me already," he said. "Over a month ago. Why did you wait so long, if you thought I didn't know?"

Sora shook his head. "At first Roxas didn't want me to. And then, it didn't seem so important. But- I'm trying to be more honest. My mom- she said that I shouldn't feel like I have to lie to get my way, but that's what I've been doing for _months_. And I don't want us to be based on lies. I want- I want this to work, and I don't think it can if I can't be honest. So- it was Roxas who kissed you first. It was Roxas you started dating. But it wasn't for that long. Only a week or two, and then I knew about it. I'm not saying it was right, for me to keep that secret from you, once I did find out- but Roxas was convinced you'd hate him, and I couldn't convince him otherwise for the longest time."

Sora felt like Riku was expecting more.

"I'm sorry," Sora said. And then, "Are we okay?"

Riku nodded. "We're fine. I'm not happy that you lied to me, but honestly, it was a long time ago. As long as you don't _keep_ lying, I think we're good."

Sora smiled brightly. That had been a lot less painful than he'd dared to hope. "I promise," he said. "No more lies."

"You and Roxas might want to try to communicate a little more, too," Riku said, with a hint of a smile. He reached over to Sora and ruffled his hair, ruining the gel Roxas had put in it earlier. Roxas let out a displeased squawk, and Riku and Sora laughed at him.

Kairi and Axel came back with a big box, then, which was even heavier than it looked. Sora and Riku helped them load it onto the ship, and Sora wondered if Kairi had packed a bunch of _bricks_ for their journey.

"Everything okay?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah," Sora said. "Everything is great."

And maybe it was silly to feel optimistic when they were about to go up against their most fearsome opponent yet, but Sora did. He'd beaten Ansem with Donald and Goofy, and he'd beaten Xemnas with Riku. With Riku _and_ Kairi _and_ Axel _and_ Roxas with him, how could they possibly lose against Xehanort? They'd beaten him twice already.

It wasn't going to be easy- saving the world never was- but Sora knew, somewhere in his heart, that they would manage.

They got into Gummi ship, Sora started it up, the familiar sound of the engines turning over and then the steady hum as they warmed up filling the air.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

"Let's go," Kairi said, at the same moment that Riku said, "What are we waiting for?"

And then Sora looked back to find Axel silently grinning.

It was time to go. But Sora knew they'd be back.

_You ready? _Sora asked Roxas silently.

_Vacation time's over,_ Roxas replied. _Let's get going._

Sora pulled the lever that let them take off. He spared one last glance at Destiny Islands before it was out of sight.

They were leaving. But they'd be back before too long.

Sora was sure of it.

* * *

**A/N:**

Well, that's it! Thank you so much for reading (and sticking with me through the long update times).

Thanks to my beta, british_spy on lj. Any remaining mistakes are my own.


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